Functional Connectivity and Clinical Characteristics in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is characterized by the expression of tics and frequently co-occurs with comorbidities including obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For a better discrimination of GTS’ manifestation in brain networks, we analyzed resting-state fMRI data from patients with “GTS only” (no comorbidities) and “GTS plus” (with comorbidities) based on clinical ratings. Our findings suggest that increased intrinsic connectivity of insular cortex with putamen are causally related to GTS while decreased connectivity of the frontal pole, medial temporal and superior frontal gyrus is likely to be related to comorbidities.