title: Absence of regional brain volume change in schizophrenia associated with short-term atypical antipsychotic treatment.
abstract: The first aim of this pilot study was to determine if longitudinal change in caudate volume could be detected in chronic schizophrenic patients after 12 weeks of atypical antipsychotic treatment. A sub-aim of the first aim was to determine if similar results could be obtained from an operator-assisted segmentation tool for volumetric imaging (ITK-SNAP) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods in the caudate. The second aim was to determine if frontal and temporal lobe grey matter, white matter, ventricular and sulcal cerebrospinal fluid volume change could be detected after 12 weeks of atypical antipsychotic treatment with VBM. Ten chronic schizophrenic inpatients, with illness duration averaging 10.6 years, underwent two MRI scans. The first scan was obtained after a mean of 39.4 days of antipsychotic withdrawal. The second MRI was obtained following twelve weeks of atypical antipsychotic treatment. Caudate volume change was first measured with ITK-SNAP. Then the location of grey matter volume change in the caudate was identified with VBM. Finally, the location of frontal and temporal lobe grey matter, white matter, ventricular and sulcal cerebrospinal fluid volume changes were identified with VBM. No longitudinal change in caudate volume or grey matter volume was observed after brief periods of atypical antipsychotic treatment. ITK-SNAP and VBM methods showed very similar results in the caudate. No statistically significant change was identified in the volume of frontal or temporal lobe grey matter, white matter, and lateral, third, or fourth ventricular cerebrospinal fluid. Although the results do not directly show that brief periods of atypical antipsychotic treatment are associated with basal ganglia and cortical volume change, there is much evidence to suggest that such an association exists.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Psychiatry, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27510-7160, United States. robert_mcclure@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: Khary
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Carew
authors.forename: Stacy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Greeter
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maushauer
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steen
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Weinberger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents