Neuroanatomical abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder detected with quantitative X-ray computed tomography

Abstract

New brain imaging techniques may provide evidence for a biological basis for severe psychiatric disorders. The authors used quantitative X-ray computed tomography (CT) to analyze the brain volume of 10 male patients with severe primary obsessive-compulsive disorder and 10 healthy male control subjects. Caudate nucleus volume in the patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder was significantly less than that of control subjects, but lenticular nuclei, third ventricle, and lateral ventricle volumes did not differ between these two groups, and no abnormal asymmetry of bilateral structures was detected. These findings support other evidence of involvement of the caudate nucleus in obsessive-compulsive disorder.