Does Pediatric PTSD alter the brain? Systematic review and meta-analysis of structural and functional MRI studies.

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2016 Oct 25;:

Authors: Milani AC, Hoffmann EV, Fossaluza V, Jackowski AP, Mello MF

Abstract
Several studies have recently demonstrated that the volumes of specific brain regions are reduced in children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with those of healthy controls. Our study investigated the potential association between early traumatic experiences and altered brain regions and functions. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature regarding functional MRI and a meta-analysis of structural MRI studies that investigated cerebral region volumes in pediatric patients with PTSD. We searched for articles from 2000 to 2014 in the PsycINFO, PubMed, Medline, Lilacs and ISI (Web of Knowledge) databases. All data regarding the amygdala, hippocampus, corpus callosum, brain, and intracranial volumes that fit the inclusion criteria were extracted and combined in a meta-analysis that assessed differences between groups. The meta-analysis found reduced total corpus callosum areas and reduced total cerebral and intracranial volumes in the patients with PTSD. The total hippocampus (left and right hippocampus) and gray matter volumes of the amygdala and frontal lobe were also reduced, but these differences were not significant. The functional studies revealed differences in brain region activation in response to stimuli in the PTSS/PTSD group. Our results confirmed that the pediatric patients with PTSD exhibited structural and functional brain abnormalities and that some of the abnormalities occurred in different brain regions than those observed in adults.

PMID: 27778421 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]