Objective: To evaluate clinical and morphometric features in patients with tics in association with OCD and ADHD

Background: In recent years there have been reports of the interest in various brain structures in the genesis of tics, OCD and ADHD

Methods: 86 patients were examined, including 46 patients with tics, 40 “relatively healthy persons” without neurological deficiency. A group of patients with tics comprised 31 male (67.4%) and 15 female (32.6%); the average age is 17.5 ± 6.8 years; control group comprised 24 male (60%) and 16 female (40%); the average age is 17.2 ± 6.5 years. MRI of the brain with a morphometry, clinical evaluation were done.

Results: The height of the middle third of the cingulate gyrus in patients with OCD is greater than in patients without OCD, p = 0.02. There was a moderate correlation of the severity of motor tics from the height of the middle third of the cingulate gyrus, r = 0.285, p≤0.025, and of the vocal tics from the height of the posterior third of the cingulate gyrus, r = 0.331, p <0.05. A moderate correlation of OCD severity from the length of the knee of the corpus callosum body was revealed, r = 0.334, p≤0.05. The direct correlation was found between the expression of all the indicators of ADHD from the distance from the frontal pole of the brain to the knee of the corpus callosum (r = 0.27, p <0.05), which indirectly indicates the interest in the frontal lobe in the development and severity of ADHD. In patients with OCD interhemispheric asymmetry of thalamus volumes with left-sided dominance was observed (p = 0.03). The dorsoventral and transverse dimensions of the globus pallidus, as well as its volumes in both hemispheres in patients with tics are generally smaller in comparison with the control group and the reduced volume of the pallidumin the right hemisphere affects the presence of OCD in patients with tics (p <0.05). The dorsoventral size of the caudate nucleus of the right hemisphere in the group of patients with tics is greater than in the control group (p = 0.02).

Conclusions: The severity of motor and vocal tics depends on the heights of the middle and posterior third of the cingulate gyrus, respectively. In the expression of ADHD, the “key role” was played the frontal lobe. Significant differences of the cingulate gyrus, corpus callosum correlated with the severity and development of OCD, rather than with tics. With the morphometry of the basal ganglion, a modified form of these structures was regularly observed in patients with tics.

References: 1. Compensatory neural reorganization in Tourette syndrome / S.R. Jackson, A. Parkinson, J. Jung, J. Jeyoung, S. Ryan, P. Morgan, C. Hollis, G. Jackson // Curr Biol. – 2011. – Vol.21. – Р.580-585. 2. Spurious but systematic correlations in functional connectivity MRI networks arise from subject motion /J.D. Power, K.A. Barnes, A.Z. Snyder, B.L. Schlaggar, S.E. Petersen // Neuroimage. – 2012. – Vol. 59. – Р. 2142–54.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-and-morphometric-features-of-the-tics/