Neuroimaging assessment of basal ganglia volumes in Tourette Syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: An increasing number of studies indicate thatanatomical, physiological, and histological differences in the basalganglia(BG) lie in the etiology of Tourette Syndrome(TS).However, the fact that there are very few studies on the anatomyof the BG in TS, small sample sizes, and unclear information as aconsequence of these studies’ contradictory findings is asignificant gap in the scientific literature. The current systematicreview and meta-analysis were performed to examine thedifferences in BG volumes between TS and controls.Method: The protocol was registered with PROSPERO(CRD42023445845). Pertaining studies were ascertained via asearch of the published literature in academic databases. Thesoftware Comprehensive Meta-Analysis was utilised for statisticalanalysis.Results: 527 articles were reached, and after the exclusion stages, 8articles remained for the current systematic review and 7 articles forthe quantitative meta-analysis. After evaluating each component ofthe BG individually, no difference was found between the BGvolumes of controls and TS.Conclusion: The failure to discover the predicted volumedifference can be explained by either the severity of the tic or theexclusion of comorbidity. The difference in BG volume is likelyrelated to TS cases with more severe tics and severe comorbidities.