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Publication: White matter volume alterations in hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania)
Uhlmann, A Dias, A Taljaard, L Stein, D.J Brooks, S.J Lochner, C
Uhlmann, A
Dias, A
Taljaard, L
Stein, D.J
Brooks, S.J
Lochner, C
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Abstract
Trichotillomania (TTM) is a disorder characterized by repetitive hair-pulling resulting in hair loss. Key processes affected in TTM comprise affective, cognitive, and motor functions. Emerging evidence suggests that brain matter aberrations in fronto-striatal and fronto-limbic brain networks and the cerebellum may characterize the pathophysiology of TTM. The aim of the present voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study was to evaluate whole brain grey and white matter volume alteration in TTM and its correlation with hair-pulling severity. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (3 T) data were acquired from 29 TTM patients and 28 age-matched healthy controls (CTRLs).
All TTM participants completed the Massachusetts General Hospital Hair-Pulling Scale (MGH-HPS) to assess illness/pulling severity. Using whole-brain VBM, between-group differences in regional brain volumes were measured. Additionally, within the TTM group, the relationship between MGH-HPS scores, illness duration and brain volumes were examined. All data were corrected for multiple comparisons using family-wise error (FWE) correction at p < 0.05. Patients with TTM showed larger white matter volumes in the parahippocampal gyrus and cerebellum compared to CTRLs. Estimated white matter volumes showed no significant association with illness duration or MGH-HPS total scores. No significant between-group differences were found for grey matter volumes. Our observations suggest regional alterations in cortico-limbic and cerebellar white matter in patients with TTM, which may underlie deficits in cognitive and affective processing. Such volumetric white matter changes may precipitate impaired cortico-cerebellar communication leading to a reduced ability to control hair pulling behavior.
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Date
2019-08-02
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Springer Nature
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Keywords
Compulsivity,Impulsivity,Neuroimaging,Trichotillomania,Voxel-based morphometry
Citation
Uhlmann A, Dias A, Taljaard L, Stein DJ, Brooks SJ, Lochner C. White matter volume alterations in hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania). Brain Imaging and Behavior. 2019 Aug 2. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00170-z