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. 1995 Jul;152(7):973-81.
doi: 10.1176/ajp.152.7.973.

MRI-based measurement of hippocampal volume in patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder

J D Bremner  1 , P Randall, T M Scott, R A Bronen, J P Seibyl, S M Southwick, R C Delaney, G McCarthy, D S Charney, R B Innis
Affiliations

MRI-based measurement of hippocampal volume in patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder

J D Bremner et al. Am J Psychiatry. 1995 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Studies in nonhuman primates suggest that high levels of cortisol associated with stress have neurotoxic effects on the hippocampus, a brain structure involved in memory. The authors previously showed that patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had deficits in short-term memory. The purpose of this study was to compare the hippocampal volume of patients with PTSD to that of subjects without psychiatric disorder.

Method: Magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the volume of the hippocampus in 26 Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD and 22 comparison subjects selected to be similar to the patients in age, sex, race, years of education, socioeconomic status, body size, and years of alcohol abuse.

Results: The PTSD patients had a statistically significant 8% smaller right hippocampal volume relative to that of the comparison subjects, but there was no difference in the volume of other brain regions (caudate and temporal lobe). Deficits in short-term verbal memory as measured with the Wechsler Memory Scale were associated with smaller right hippocampal volume in the PTSD patients only.

Conclusions: These findings are consistent with a smaller right hippocampal volume in PTSD that is associated with functional deficits in verbal memory.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Coronal Slice of a Magnetic Resonance Image at the Level of the Hippocampus Between the Bifurcation of the Basilar Artery and the Superior Colliculi in a Healthy Subjecta
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Relation Between Verbal Memory and Right Hippocampal Volume in Patients With PTSDa
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • PTSD and hippocampal volume.
    Warden D, Reider-Groswasser I, Grafman J, Salazar A. Warden D, et al. Am J Psychiatry. 1996 Dec;153(12):1657; author reply 1658-9. Am J Psychiatry. 1996. PMID: 8942474 No abstract available.
  • PTSD and hippocampal volume.
    van Berkestijn JW, Kluiter H. van Berkestijn JW, et al. Am J Psychiatry. 1996 Dec;153(12):1657-8; author reply 1658-9. Am J Psychiatry. 1996. PMID: 8942475 No abstract available.

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