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Abnormal thalamic volume in treatment-naïve boys with Tourette syndrome
1Department of Psychiatry, Inha University Hospital and College of Medicine, Incheon, South Korea. soulfree@inha.ac.kr
Objective:
Thalamic abnormality has been implicated in the pathophysiology of Tourette's syndrome (TS). We examined the presence of aberrant thalamic volume from the treatment-naïve boys with TS using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Method:
Volumetric MRI was performed on 18 treatment-naïve boys with TS, aged 7-14 years, and 16 healthy comparison subjects. The anatomical boundaries were then manually parcellated to measure the thalamic volume.
Results:
Tourette's syndrome subjects had a significantly larger left thalamus in comparison with those of healthy subjects. On the contrary, no group difference was observed from the right thalamic volume. TS subjects also showed a significant reduction in rightward asymmetry in thalamic volume compared with the healthy subjects.
Conclusion:
Our findings provide new evidence of abnormal thalamic volume in pediatric TS.
