engleski

Changes of Cerebral Hemodynamics in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex entity with a variety of neurobiological alterations based onto abnormal reaction on stress. There was well documented higher level of stress-hormones and conditioned autonomic hyper-arousal in PTSD patients. The aim of this investigation was to discover possible impact of these pathophysiological processes on cerebral hemodynamics and vasoreactivity. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography was used to examine mean blood flow velocity (MBFV) in 50 patients suffering from PTSD, before and six months after successful psychiatric treatment. Doppler sonography of the circle of Willis blood vessels (BV) and vertebrobasilar BV was also performed in a control group of healthy subjects. The subjects from both groups were aged 20 to 43 years, and were free from other diseases. Vasospasm of the circle of Willis BV was initially detected in 62% of PTSD patients, and decreased to 22% after six months psychiatric treatment. The difference is statistically significant (Mann-Whitney test, p<0.05). In the control group, vasospasm of the circle of Willis BV was found in 8% of subjects. TCD examination of the vertebrobasilar system showed no statistically significant difference in MBFV between PTSD patients and control subjects, irrespective of treatment. Study results confirmed the typical changes of cerebral hemodynamics to be found in PTSD patients. The study also pointed the value of TCD in detecting of vasospasm, the role of TCD in the diagnosis of PTSD and in the evaluation of therapeutic success.

transcranial Dopler; stress; haemodynamics

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