Psychiatry Investig.
2016 Jan;13(1):146-151. 10.4306/pi.2016.13.1.146.
Frontoparietal Cortical Thinning in Respiratory-Type Panic Disorder: A Preliminary Report
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Republic of Korea.
- 2Department of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- 3Department of Neurology, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Republic of Korea. kwondoya@korea.ac.kr
- 4Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Anam Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- KMID: 2316607
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/pi.2016.13.1.146
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Many evidences raise the possibility that the panic disorder (PD) patients with respiratory subtype (RS) may have characteristic structural abnormalities. We aimed to explore the structural differences between PD patients with and without the respiratory symptoms.
METHODS
Patients with PD were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry at Korea University Anam Hospital. Respiratory subtype (RS) was diagnosed when at least 4 out of 5 of the following respiratory symptoms were present during the panic attack: fear of dying, chest pain/discomfort, shortness of breath, paresthesias, and a choking sensation. We acquired high-resolution MRI scans and used FreeSurfer to obtain a measure of cortical thickness for each patient.
RESULTS
Cluster based analysis revealed significantly decreased cortical thickness in the left hemisphere in the caudal-middle-frontal, superior frontal, and posterior parietal areas in the RS group. No significant difference was observed in any of the limbic areas.
CONCLUSION
Respiratory symptoms of panic disorder were associated with a reduction in cortical thickness in the left frontal and parietal areas. This finding leads to the assumption that the frontoparietal network is the crucial component in a larger cortical network underlying the perception of dyspnea in RS.
