Objective: To explore the change characteristics of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and its correlation with curative efficacy in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Methods: The images of rCBF and computed tomography (CT) were acquired from 30 OCD and 30 normal controls by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and CT. The tomographic data of rCBF were normalized, smoothed and statistically processed with the statistical parametric mapping (SPM) software with two-sample Z-test. And the OCD grade was evaluated with the Y-BOCS at pre- and post-medication.
Results: The abnormal results of CT were not found. The SPM Z-test showed that the sections of higher rCBF in the OCD patients were predominantly located in basal ganglia and occipital lobe compared with the normal controls (P < 0.001). The scores of Y-BOCS in 30 patients were markedly lower at post-medication than those at pre-medication (24 ± 7 vs 11 ± 6, P < 0.001). At post-medication, the scores of Y-BOCS with higher rCBF in basal ganglia and occipital lobe were higher than those in basal ganglia or occipital lobe (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The OCD patients have higher rCBF in basal ganglia and occipital lobe. The curative efficacy of OCD with higher rCBF in basal ganglia and occipital lobe is worse than that in basal ganglia or occipital lobe.