Intracranial (structural) changes in obsessive- compulsive disorder: A computerized tomography scan study

OBJECTIVE: To assess intracranial structural changes in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with CT scan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients of OCD between 21 and 40 years of age and fulfilling various inclusion and exclusion criteria were compared with control group. CT scans of all the patients and controls were taken and compared with regard to ventricular size, Evan’s ratio and ventricular brain ratio (VBR). RESULTS: Patients of OCD were found to have greater cortical atrophy and scored significantly higher in frontal and parietal area. Only 4 patients had enlarged ventricles, and there were none with a smaller ventricle. Mean Evan’s ratio of patients was lower than that of the control group but the difference was statistically nonsignificant. The mean VBR of patients was lower than that of the control group and the difference was highly significant. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence of neuro-radiological abnormalities in patients with OCD suggests that these disorders should not be considered merely functional in the traditional sense.