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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adult, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Female, Functional Laterality, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Motor Activity, Neuropsychological Tests, Panic Disorder, Psychomotor Performance, Putamen, Task Performance and Analysis, Young Adult.
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Does an fMRI motor activation paradigm demonstrate abnormalities of putamen activation in females with panic disorder? Context: The neurobiology of panic disorder is incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to determine if functional abnormalities of the putamen occur in panic disorder. Activation patterns of 12 female subjects with panic disorder were compared to 18 female healthy controls using functional MRI at 3 T. A motor activation paradigm was used to probe putamen function. A complex motor activation paradigm for the non-dominant hand revealed decreased activation of the bilateral putamen among subjects with panic disorder.
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The sample size was a relatively small cohort of non-depressed females. Further, some panic disorder subjects were taking medications and/or had comorbid conditions. However, second-level regression analyses did not reveal any correlations between medication use or comorbidity and activation patterns demonstrated by the non-dominant hand complex task. Finally, we used a post-hoc approach to determine the magnitude of global fMRI signal as a surrogate index of the global cerebral blood flow as a means of controlling for possible confounds from reduction of BOLD signal secondary to cerebral vasoconstriction resulting from possible hyperventilation among panic subjects. A more compelling approach would have been to record the respiratory data from subjects during scanning. Final Decision: yes