A brain MRT study in subjects with borderline personality disorder

Background: There have been only a few brain computed tomography imaging st udies, with mostly negative findings, in subjects with borderline personali ty disorder (BPD). This is the first MRI study which evaluated the structur al abnormalities of the brain in subjects with the sole diagnosis of BPD. M ethods: Twenty-five subjects with BPD were compared with age-, gender-match ed healthy comparison subjects (n = 25) on volumes of the frontal lobes, th e temporal lobes, the lateral ventricles, and the cerebral hemispheres in b rain magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Subjects with BPD had a significa ntly smaller frontal lobe compared to comparison subjects (multivariate reg ression analysis, t = 2.225, df = 46, P = 0.031). There were no significant differences in volumes of the temporal lobes, the lateral ventricles, and the cerebral hemispheres between subjects with and without BPD. Limitations : Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria employed in the present study may make it difficult to generalize our findings. The gray matter and white ma tter of the brain were not measured separately. Differences in head tilt du ring image acquisition were not corrected. Conclusions: The current study r eports a smaller frontal lobe volume on brain MRI in subjects with BPD comp ared with healthy comparison subjects. This finding may serve as a potentia lly useful biological variable that may allow for subtyping BPD. (C) 1998 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.