Prefrontal dysfunction in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy

Corresponding author.Recent developments in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) have enabled nonin-vasive clarification of brain functions in psychiatric disorders. Functionalneuroimaging studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have suggestedthatthefrontalcortexandsubcorticalstructuresmayplayaroleinthepathophy-siology of the disorder. Twelve treatment-naive children with OCD and 12 age-and sex-matched healthy control subjects participated in the present study aftergiving consent. The relative concentrations of oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) weremeasured with frontal probes every 0.1sec during the Stroop color-word task,using 24-channel NIRS machines. During the Stroop color-word task, the oxy-Hb changes in the control group were significantly larger than that in the OCDgroup in the prefrontal cortex, especially in the frontopolar cortex. The presentstudy suggests that the children with OCD have the prefrontal dysfunction.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neurenf.2012.04.572Tu-P-2196