Charlestown, MA – Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program, today announced the publication of an important study examining the long-term relationship between combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and hippocampal volume.

The study, titled “Association between Unremitting PTSD and Smaller Right Hippocampal Volume among Veterans Thirty Years after Combat,” was published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences and is available online.

This research is a collaborative effort between the Home Base Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Mark Gilbertson at the Manchester, NH Veterans Administration Medical Center. Researchers found that combat Veterans with long-lasting PTSD had a smaller right hippocampus compared to combat Veterans who either got better from PTSD or never developed it. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps with learning, memory, associations between events and environmental context, and controlling emotions.

“These results suggest that a smaller hippocampus may not be associated with the development of PTSD itself, but with the inability to recover from it once it has developed,” said lead author Kaloyan Tanev, MD, of Home Base and the MGH Department of Psychiatry. “By understanding this group better, we can work on creating treatments that better address recovery from PTSD.”

This research underscores Home Base’s commitment to advancing innovations in neuroscience and HealthSpan research, with the goal of helping Veterans and military families recover from invisible wounds of war and lead healthier, more resilient lives.

The work was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institute of Mental Health.

For more information, visit https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41194616/.

Media Contact:
Kelly Field
Director, Marketing and Communications
Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program
kefield@mgh.harvard.edu

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About Home Base

Home Base is a national nonprofit dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of war for Veterans of all eras, Service Members, Military Families and Families of the Fallen through world-class, direct clinical care, wellness, education and research – all at no cost to them – regardless of era of service, discharge status or geographical location. The program was founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Red Sox organization in 2009.  Since inception, Home Base has served more than 45,000 Veterans, Service Members, Military Families and Families of the Fallen with care and support, and trained more than 85,000 clinicians, educators and community members nationally. The Home Base National Center of Excellence is located in the historic Charlestown Navy Yard of Boston. Learn more at www.homebase.org.