RT Journal
A1 Fallucca E, MacMaster FP, Haddad J, et al
T1 DIstinguishing between major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder in children by measuring regional cortical thickness
JF Archives of General Psychiatry
JO Archives of General Psychiatry
YR 2011
FD May 2
VO 68
IS 5
SP 527
OP 533
DO 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.36
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.36
AB Context 
    Cortical abnormalities have been noted in previous studies of major depressive disorder (MDD).Objective 
    To hypothesize differences in regional cortical thickness among children with MDD, children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and healthy controls.Design 
    Cross-sectional study of groups.Setting 
    Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.Participants 
    A total of 24 psychotropic drug–naive pediatric patients with MDD (9 boys and 15 girls), 24 psychotropic drug–naive pediatric outpatients with OCD (8 boys and 16 girls), and 30 healthy controls (10 boys and 20 girls).Intervention 
    Magnetic resonance imaging.Main Outcome Measure 
    Cortical thickness.Results 
    In the right hemisphere of the brain, the pericalcarine gyrus was thinner in patients with MDD than in outpatients with OCD (P = .002) or healthy controls (P = .04), the postcentral gyrus was thinner in patients with MDD than in outpatients with OCD (P = .002) or healthy controls (P = .02), and the superior parietal gyrus was thinner in patients with MDD than in outpatients with OCD (P = .008) or healthy controls (P = .03). The outpatients with OCD and the healthy controls did not differ in these regions of the brain. The temporal pole was thicker in patients with MDD than in outpatients with OCD (P < .001) or healthy controls (P = .01), both of which groups did not differ in temporal pole thickness. The cuneus was thinner in patients with MDD than in outpatients with OCD (P = .008), but it did not differ from that in healthy controls. In the left hemisphere, the supramarginal gyrus was thinner in both patients with MDD (P = .04) and outpatients with OCD (P = .01) than in healthy controls, and the temporal pole was thicker in patients with MDD than in both healthy controls and outpatients with OCD (P < .001).Conclusions 
    To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore cortical thickness in pediatric patients with MDD. Although differences in some regions of the brain would be expected given neurobiological models of MDD, our study highlights some unexpected regions (ie, supramarginal and superior parietal gyri) that merit further investigation. These results underscore the need to expand exploration beyond the frontal-limbic circuit.