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PET imaging in obsessive compulsive disorder with and without depression.
L R Baxter1, J M Schwartz, B H Guze
1Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine.
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
|April 1, 1990
Summary
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and its frequent complication, major depression, involve brain dysfunction. Neuroimaging studies suggest orbital prefrontal cortex and striatum issues mediate OCD and Gilles de la Tourette
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common psychoneurosis often co-occurring with major depression.
- Previous research suggests a link between brain dysfunction and OCD behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural underpinnings of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and its common comorbidity with major depression.
- To explore the role of specific brain regions in mediating OCD behaviors and related disorders.
Main Methods:
- Review and synthesis of recent positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging studies.
- Integration of neuroimaging data with existing research findings.
Main Results:
- Positron emission tomography (PET) studies implicate dysfunction in the orbital prefrontal cortex and striatum in mediating obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) behaviors.
- These brain regions are also implicated in the related Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome.
- The anterolateral prefrontal cortex is specifically linked to secondary major depressions complicating OCD.
Conclusions:
- Brain dysfunction in the orbital prefrontal cortex and striatum is central to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome.
- The anterolateral prefrontal cortex plays a role in the depressive aspects often seen in OCD patients.