Altered White Matter Network Topology in Panic Disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Panic disorder (PD) is a debilitating anxiety disorder impacting quality of life and social functioning.
• While PD is linked to various brain regions, its structural network alterations remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the specific characteristics of structural brain networks in PD patients.
• To analyze topological properties of brain networks using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and graph theory.

Main Methods:

• Graph theory analysis applied to diffusion tensor images (DTI).
• Comparison of global and nodal network topological properties between 81 PD patients and 48 healthy controls (HC).

Main Results:

• PD group exhibited higher global network efficiency and lower shortest path length and clustering coefficient compared to HC.
• Widespread higher nodal efficiency and lower average shortest path length were observed in prefrontal, sensorimotor, limbic, insula, and cerebellum regions in PD patients.

Conclusions:

• Structural brain network alterations are evident in panic disorder.
• These changes in information processing within the fear network may contribute to the pathophysiology of PD.