Regional brain volumes in body dysmorphic disorder compared to controls

Abstract

This is the largest volumetric neuroimaging study in BDD to date and provides important data on volumetric differences that implicate fronto-limbic circuits.

Cortical thickness and brain volumetric analysis in body dysmorphic disorder

“…The absence of significant abnormalities in brain volumes agrees with one previous morphometric study in BDD (Feusner et al, 2009), but not with three other studies (Rauch et al, 2003; Atmaca et al, 2010; Buchanan et al, 2014). Three out of the four previous studies found no abnormalities in total GM (Rauch et al, 2003; Feusner et al, 2009; Atmaca et al, 2010), while one found lower total GM in BDD patients, compared with controls (Buchanan et al, 2014).…”

“…Three out of the four previous studies found no abnormalities in total GM (Rauch et al, 2003; Feusner et al, 2009; Atmaca et al, 2010), while one found lower total GM in BDD patients, compared with controls (Buchanan et al, 2014). Two studies found greater total WM volume in BDD (Atmaca et al, 2010; Rauch et al, 2003), although two other studies did not (Buchanan et al, 2014; Feusner et al, 2009). Contrary to our hypotheses, we did not find abnormalities in the anterior cingulate and the orbitofrontal cortices, despite findings in two previous studies of smaller volumes in these regions (Atmaca et al, 2010; Buchanan et al, 2014), nor did we find abnormalities in visual processing regions.…”

“…ROIs included brain regions that have been previously found in the BDD literature to have abnormal volumes (frontal and striatal regions) (Rauch et al, 2003; Atmaca et al, 2010; Buchanan et al, 2014) and/or abnormal activity (frontal, striatal, and visual regions) (Feusner et al, 2007; Feusner et al, 2010; Feusner et al, 2011). We analyzed mean cortical thickness in the bilateral anterior cingulate (caudal + rostral anterior cingulate), bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex, left inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis + pars orbitalis + pars triangularis), left lingual gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral lateral occipital cortex, obtained from FreeSurfer parcellations (Fischl et al, 2002).…”

“…We hypothesized that there would be regional differences (greater or lesser) in GM thickness and volumes between BDD patients and controls. Specifically, we expected between-group differences in frontostriatal and visual processing systems, where previous studies found abnormal volumes (Rauch et al, 2003; Atmaca et al, 2010; Buchanan et al, 2014) and/or functioning (Feusner et al, 2007; Feusner et al, 2010; Feusner et al, 2011). We also predicted significant associations between clinical symptoms and both cortical thickness and volumes.…”

“…Of the four studies of brain morphometry in BDD (Rauch et al, 2003); Feusner et al, 2009; Atmaca et al, 2010; Buchanan et al, 2014), two found greater total white matter (WM) volume (Rauch et al, 2003; Atmaca et al, 2010) and two found smaller volumes in frontostriatal systems (anterior cingulate and the orbitofrontal cortices) (Atmaca et al, 2010; Buchanan et al, 2014). However, these studies had small sample sizes, and the results are discrepant.…”