1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy evidence for occipital involvement in treatment-naive paediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder. Issue 3 (24th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ljungberg, Maria; Nilsson, Marie K. L.; Melin, Karin; Jönsson, Lars; Carlsson, Arvid; Carlsson, Åsa; Forssell-Aronsson, Eva; Ivarsson, Tord; Carlsson, Maria; Starck, Göran
• Is Part Of: Acta neuropsychiatrica. Volume 29:Issue 3(2017:Jun.)
• Page Start: 179
• Page End: 190
• Publication Date: 2016-10-24
• Subjects: magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), -- neuroimaging, -- obsessive–compulsive disorder, -- occipital lobe; Neuropsychiatry -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1017/neu.2016.52
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0924-2708

Abstract

Abstract : Objective: Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic psychiatric disorder leading to considerable distress and disability. Therapies are effective in a majority of paediatric patients, however, many only get partial response. It is therefore important to study the underlying pathophysiology of the disorder. Methods: 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to study the concentration of brain metabolites in four different locations (cingulate gyrus and sulcus, occipital cortex, thalamus and right caudate nucleus). Treatment-naive children and adolescents with OCD (13 subjects) were compared with a group of healthy age- and gender-matched subjects (11 subjects). Multivariate analyses were performed on the concentration values. Results: No separation between controls and patients was found. However, a correlation between metabolite concentrations and symptom severity as measured with the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) was found. Strongest was the correlation with the CY-BOCS obsession subscore and aspartate and choline in the caudate nucleus (positively correlated with obsessions), lipids at 2 and 0.9 ppm in thalamus, and occipital glutamate+glutamine, N -acetylaspartate and myo-inosytol (negatively correlated with obsessions). Conclusions: The observed correlations between 1 H MRS and CY-BOCS in treatment-naive patients further supports an occipital involvement in OCD. The results are consistent with our previous study on adult OCD patients. The 1 H MRS data were not supportive of a separation between the patient and control groups.