Retinal Changes in Panic Disorder Patients.

AIM: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel method that allows high resolution cross-sectional imaging of biological tissues. It was suggested that changes in the cranial structure or functions would be reflected in the retina. OCT has been an important method in the diagnosis and follow-up of diseases via morphometric or quantitative retinal measurements. Panic disorder (PD) is an anxiety disorder, where free radicals, inflammatory processes and neurotransmitter transmission disorders play a role in the etiology. The present study aimed to demonstrate neurodegeneration in PD by the comparison of PD patient and control OCT data. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study group included 21 PD patients who met the study criteria. The control group included 21 healthy individuals without any known psychiatric or organic disease, including eye disease, and gender-matched to the patient group. All participants underwent detailed psychiatric and eye examinations. Central macular thickness (CMT), macular volume (MV), mean and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL), ganglion cell layer thickness (GCLT), and central choroidal thickness (CCT) were measured in both eyes of all participants with OCT. A sociodemographic data form, Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGIS), and Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) were administered to the participants. RESULTS: In the study, it was determined that the CMT values of the PD patients were lower when compared to the controls in the OCT examination. There was a statistically significant difference between the CMT of the PD patient group and the control group; the CMT was lower in the patient group. There were no significant differences between the groups based on GCLT, RNFL superior, RNFL inferior, RNFL nasal, RNFL temporal, and CCT. There was no significant correlation between CGIS, PDSS scores and OCT measurements. CONCLUSION: This is the first study in the literature where patients with a PD diagnosis were analyzed based on the OCT method. OCT, which is a simple, noninvasive and relatively inexpensive method that the patient could easily adapt to during imaging, could be employed as a supplementary method in the diagnosis and follow-up of PD patients.

Smaller Pituitary Volumes in Patients with Delusional Disorder.

INTRODUCTION: Delusional disorder shares some clinical characteristics of OCD and hypochondriasis. Delusions compared to obsessions in the OCD and compared to bodily preoccupations in the hypochondriasis are more established beliefs. AIM: To measure pituitary volumes in patients with delusional disorder and hypothesized that volumes would be reduced in those patients by a mechanism that we could not account for before for patients with OCD and hypochondriasis. METHODS: Eighteen patients with delusional disorder and healthy controls were included into the study. Pituitary gland volumes were measured. RESULTS: When using independent t test, the mean total pituitary volume was 777.22±241.28 mm3 in healthy controls, while it was 532.11±125.65 mm3 in patients with delusional disorder. The differences in regard to pituitary gland volumes between patients with delusional disorder and healthy control subjects were statistically meaningful (p<0.01), as supported by ANCOVA, with the covariates of age, gender and total brain volumes as covariates. CONCLUSION: We determined that patients with delusional disorder had smaller pituitary volumes compared to those of healthy control subjects.

Should patients be informed about the side effects of psychotropic drugs? According to us: Yes.

BACKGROUND: In our daily clinical practice, we observe that patients who were informed about the probable side effects of any medication experience less side effects. For this reason, we decided to examine this in a systematic investigation. METHODS: We divided patients into two groups, the informed and uninformed one about side effects of the drugs. During the control examination, tolerability of the drugs given was questioned in detail. RESULTS: At the end of one month, the mean total UKU score was statistically significantly lower in patients from the informed group compared to that of the uninformed one (p < 0.05). The proportion of patients who discontinued the drug during the one month-period was statistically significantly higher in the uninformed group compared to informed group 9% in the informed group vs. 25% in the uninformed group) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Finally, we found that giving information about the side effects of a psychopharmacological agent seems to be useful and to provide beneficial effects on the tolerability of the drug, independent of the kind of psychotropic agent.