PTSD research in San Francisco aims to objectively identify PTSD via MRI scans and other testing

A new finding by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco may alter how post traumatic stress disorder is diagnosed and perhaps even treated.  The study, published in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, reveals that there is a particular portion of the brain’s hippocampus, which is related to memory, that is significantly smaller in patients suffering from post traumatic stress disorder than in those who do not suffer from the condition.  Because of the hippocampus’s ability for developing, storing, and recalling memories, it is of utmost importance to the study of post traumatic stress disorder.

The research team examined forty veterans, half of whom suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and half of whom did not suffer from the condition.  The team took images from an MRI scan to evaluate the brain regions and determine if there were any apparent differences between the groups.  They found that a specific portion of the brain, the CA3/dentate gyrus, was eleven percent smaller in the veterans living with post traumatic stress disorder.  Additionally, the researchers noted that another region of the brain, CA1, was not affected at all.  The research team members were surprised that post traumatic stress disorder impacted one part of the brain and not another.

Although it is the first study of its kind and much more research will be needed on the subject, this study’s outcomes are important for a couple of reasons.  First, because the dentate gyrus is responsible for producing neurons, any changes that occur in this region may be reversible by treatment.  Second, this study may suggest that a specific biomarker for post traumatic stress disorder exists.  Most researchers, doctors, and scientists are looking for such a biomarker in the disorder because the only way to currently diagnose the mental disorder is by a subjective examination, rather than by concrete, physical evidence.  Having such an objective physical marker would allow patients to be diagnosed more easily and allow them to get the treatment they need faster.

Further, an absolute, tangible piece of evidence indicating that the disorder PTSD exists will also help those individuals who seek social security benefits because of their condition.  Currently, these people can only submit the testimony and subjective findings of their doctors to the social security administration and administrative law judge in an attempt to gain disability benefits.  With this new finding, it is possible that they could show they have the condition through brain imaging scans, as well as their physician’s testimony.  Despite the need for further testing, it is encouraging to know that there is likely a quantitative means of diagnosing an otherwise unpredictable mental disorder.