Abstract:Objective To investigate the dynamic changes in brain structure morphology of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic accident such as car accident. Methods From January to December 2019, a total of 40 patients who experienced traffic accidents such as car accident on roads in Shihezi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were selected and admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Shihezi University and the Municipal People′s Hospital of Shihezi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Among them, 17 cases of the patients who experienced a car accident developed PTSD were treated as PTSD group and 23 cases of the patients who experienced a car accident but did not develop PTSD were treated as non-PTSD group. Voxel-based morphological measurement method (VBM) was used to post-process the brain images of the two groups. The brain structure changes in the PTSD group and the non-PTSD group at one week and two months of the traumatic event were compared. The brain structure changes of the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the second fMRI were compared between the PTSD group and the non-PTSD group. Results No abnormalities were found in brain structure during fMRI examinations of the PTSD group and non-PTSD group at one week of the traumatic event. At two months after the traumatic event, the PTSD group had a smaller volume of the right prefrontal lobe than the non-PTSD group (P < 0.01, GRF adjusted). No abnormalities were found in the brain structure of the non-PTSD group during fMRI examinations at two months after the traumatic event compared with one week. In the PTSD group, the volume of left central sulcus and anterior cingulate gyrus decreased at two months after the traumatic event compared with that at one week. (P < 0.01, GRF adjusted). Conclusion Structural changes in the right frontal lobe, anterior cingulate gyrus, and central sulcus of PTSD patients may be important factors leading to the pathogenesis of PTSD. At the same time, based on whether these changes in brain structure as above may help in the early diagnosis of PTSD.