Common Pattern of Gray Matter Changes in First Episode Schizophrenia Patients with and without Antipsychotics: VBM Meta-analyses Using Signed Differential Mapping
Chandan Shah1, Wenjing Zhang1, Yuan Xiao2, Li Yao2, Xin Gao2, Lu Liu2, Jieke Liu2, Siyi Li2, Qiyong Gong2, and Su Lui2

1Radiology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, People's Republic of, 2Chengdu, China, People's Republic of

Synopsis

Current study provides an insight about the brain morphological changes of first episode schizophrenia patients at drug-naive state and after antipsychotic treatment. Our study reveals that GM changes in frontal, temporal and insular regions are the fundamental regions of pathologic GM changes in first-episode schizophrenia irrespective of antipsychotic medication. This common pattern of GM changes in first episode schizophrenia patients with and without antipsychotics suggest the anatomical deficits involved in the fronto-temporal and limbic regions are likely to be the trait- instead of state-related changes at the early course of illness in schizophrenia. Until now only assumptions have been made about the potential effects of antipsychotics rather than making a strong statement due to lack of proper investigation methods and also due to difficulty in gaining access to a satisfactory number of drug naïve and medicated patients group of the same age. We therefore hope this study would be helpful in providing important information about the pathology of the schizophrenic brain after the early course of treatment with antipsychotics.

Purpose: To conduct a meta-analysis of all available VBM studies of first episode schizophrenia at drug naïve state (AN-FES) and after antipsychotic medication (AT-FES) and compare gray matter changes (GM) to identify the pattern of GM abnormalities between them. Materials and methods: Two separate meta-analyses containing a total number of 25 studies with sample size of 818 patients and 979 healthy controls were conducted using effect-size-based algorithms-signed differential mapping (AE-SDM). A systematic voxel-based leave-one-out jack-knife analysis was conducted to test the replicability of the results. "Multimodal meta-analysis method" was used to compare the findings between AN-FES and AT-FES. In exploratory analysis, meta-regression was done to determine the potential associations between the clinical symptoms determined by PANSS scores and structural changes.Results: Direct comparison between AN-FES and AT-FES showed common patterns of GM deficits in both the groups including frontal, superior and medial temporal and insular region. Conclusion: Our study reveals that GM changes in frontal, temporal and insular regions are the fundamental regions of pathologic GM changes in first-episode schizophrenia irrespective of antipsychotic medication. This common pattern of GM changes in first episode schizophrenia patients with and without antipsychotics suggest the anatomical deficits involved in the fronto-temporal and limbic regions are likely to be the trait- instead of state-related changes at the early course of illness in schizophrenia.

Acknowledgements

No acknowledgement found.

References

No reference found.

Figures

Direct comparison of studies between AN-FES and AT-FES.Red :areas decreased GM in both groups.Blue:increased GM in both groups.Green:areas with increased GM in AN-FES but decreased in AT-FES Violet:areas with decreased GM in AN-FES but increased in AT-FES.



Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 24 (2016)
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