Abstract

Info

Title:: Brain morphology in patients with first-episode schizophrenia: a magnetic resonance imaging study

Author(s):: WANG Xingrui1; XU Yongqiang1; ZHU Yuanqiang1; LI Chen1; XI Yibin1; HU Wenzhong1; WANG Huaning2; YIN Hong1; 1. Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China; 2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China

Keywords:: ; Keywords: first-episode schizophrenia; grey matter; magnetic resonance imaging; voxel-based morphometry

Abstract:: Abstract: Objective To investigate the morphological changes of the brain structure in patients with first-episode schizophrenia using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods High-resolution T1-weighted MRI images of the brain in 86 patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 86 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were collected. FMRIB software library (FSL) 5.0 was used for voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. Results FSL-VBM revealed that compared with normal controls, patients with first-episode schizophrenia had extensively grey matter lost in brain regions which included precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, middle cingulate cortex and supplementary motor area, but increased grey matter volume in cerebellum (P<0.05, TFCE correction). Conclusion Patients with first-episode schizophrenia may have considerable brain morphological changes at the early stage.