Decreased Gray Matter Volume And Their Negative Correlation With CAPS And SCL90 Scores In Victims Of A Traumatic Event

Objective:To investgate the gray matter volume changes in the victims of traumatic event, and to find the imaging evidence for the begining and developing of PTSD, and to analyse the relationship between gray matter regions and clinical scores, so as to contribute to the early diagnosis and prevention of PTSD.Methods:In this study, we use voxel based morphometry (VBM) method based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to investigate the morphology and function of gray matter changes between the survivors of a traumatic event and a healthy control group. The survivors of the coal mine flood disaster (n=25, PTSD=15, no PTSD=10) and a control group (n=20) were studied. The correlation between Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), System Check List(SCL90) and global gray matter volume in the traumatic group was also studied respectively. Results:Compared with the control group(n=20), patients of traumatic group(n=25) had significantly decreased gray matter volume in the bounded district of right thalamus and hippocampus, patients suffering from acute PTSD(n=15) , and not suffering from acute PTSD(n=10) had significantly decreased gray matter volume in the most similarly same region too. In the bilateral supp-motor area, frontal-sup-medial, cingulum-ant, cingulum-mid, cuneus cortex, calcarine cortex, the gray matter volume of the victims of stress(n=20) had a negative correlation with their CAPS score. And in the PTSD victims(n=10), only the gray matter volume of certain region in bilateral frontal-sup-medial had a negative relationship with their CAPS score. In the bounded district of right thalamus and hippocampus, the gray matter volume of the victims of stress(n=19) had a negative relationship with their SCL90 score.Conclusion:This findings suggest that traumatic exposure in severe coalmining disasters may mostly damage the bounded district of right thalamus and hippocampus, and in the traumatic group, the PTSD members and no PTSD members may have different regions responding to the stress.