White Matter Abnormalities in Patients With Typhoon-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Hui Juan Chen,Qiang Xu,Rongfeng Qi,Feng Chen,Jun Ke,Guang Ming Lu,Yuan Zhong,Jie Qiu

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2021.665070

Abstract

Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might have white matter abnormalities. However, less is known about white matter changes after exposing a specific traumatic event. The purpose of this study was to explore the abnormalities of diffusion in cerebral white matter and its relationship with the clinical symptoms in patients with PTSD by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Diffusion-weighted imaging of the cerebrum was performed in typhoon survivors with (n = 27) and without PTSD (n = 33) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 30). Differences in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) were calculated among groups using voxel-based analysis of the DTI data. Correlations between diffusion indices and clinical symptoms in patients with PTSD were also assessed. Both patients with PTSD and trauma-exposed control (TEC) group showed increased FA in the anterior limb of the internal capsule, forceps of the corpus callosum, and corona radiata relative to the HC group. Additionally, there was a negative correlation between FA values in the white matter and the clinical symptoms. Trauma exposure may result in disruption of cerebral white matter in individuals with or without PTSD, particularly in the frontal fibers. Aberrant white matter alterations may be associated with the severity of PTSD symptoms.

Highlights

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that develops following a traumatic event that involves the threat of death or serious injury to oneself or others
There was no significant difference in age (F = 0.317, P = 0.729) and gender distribution (P = 0.912) among the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma-exposed control (TEC), and healthy controls (HCs) groups
Post-hoc analyses showed that the TEC group had significantly higher scores for the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) (P = 0.025) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) (P = 0.003) groups than those in the HC group but was significantly lower when comparing with the PTSD group

Summary

Introduction

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that develops following a traumatic event that involves the threat of death or serious injury to oneself or others. It mainly includes four symptom clusters, namely, reexperience, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal. A better understanding of the neurobiological dysfunctions that underline PTSD might be helpful in the development of improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. It is reported that PTSD is associated with white matter abnormalities (Siehl et al, 2018).

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