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Original article| Volume 48, ISSUE 4, P294-300, August 15, 2000

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Thalamic volume in pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder patients before and after cognitive behavioral therapy

  • David R Rosenberg
    Correspondence
    Address reprint requests to David R Rosenberg, M.D., Wayne State University School of Medicine, University Health Center, 9B-21, 4201 St. Antoine Boulevard, Detroit MI 48201
    Affiliations
    Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA (DRR, NRB, AS, GJM)

    Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA (DRR)
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  • Nili R Benazon
    Affiliations
    Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA (DRR, NRB, AS, GJM)
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  • Andrew Gilbert
    Affiliations
    University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA (AG)
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  • April Sullivan
    Affiliations
    Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA (DRR, NRB, AS, GJM)
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  • Gregory J Moore
    Affiliations
    Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA (DRR, NRB, AS, GJM)

    Department of Radiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA (GJM), Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan
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      Abstract

      Background: Neurobiologic abnormalities in the thalamus have been implicated in the pathophysiology of obsessive–compulsive disorder. We recently reported increased thalamic volume in treatment-naive pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder patients versus case-matched healthy comparison subjects that decreased to levels comparable to control subjects after effective paroxetine therapy. To our knowledge, no prior study has measured neuroanatomic changes in the thalamus of obsessive–compulsive disorder patients near illness onset before and after cognitive behavioral therapy.
      Methods: Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies were conducted in 11 psychotropic drug-naive 8–17-year-old children with obsessive–compulsive disorder before and after 12 weeks of effective cognitive behavioral therapy monotherapy (≥30% reduction in obsessive–compulsive disorder symptom severity).
      Results: No significant change in thalamic volume was observed in obsessive–compulsive disorder patients before and after cognitive behavioral therapy.
      Conclusions: Our findings suggest that reduction in thalamic volume after paroxetine therapy may be specific to paroxetine treatment and not the result of a general treatment response or spontaneous improvement. These results are preliminary in view of the small sample studied.

      Keywords

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