Gray matter morphology and the level of functioning in one-year follow-up of first-episode schizophrenia patients.
Schizophrenia is a condition with a highly variable course that is hard to predict. The aim of the present study was to investigate if local gray matter volume (GMV) can differentiate poor (PF) and good (GF) functioning patients using voxel-wise analysis in a group of first-episode schizophrenia subjects (FES).


METHODS
32 FES male patients were assessed twice: at the time of the first episode of schizophrenia and one year later. 18 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and handedness were also included. Local gray matter volume was analyzed using voxel-wise full-factorial design with factors group (GF, PF) and time.


RESULTS
FES subjects had bilateral gray matter reduction in the lateral prefrontal cortex as compared with healthy controls. PF subjects had smaller GMV in the left orbitofrontal and frontopolar cortex.


CONCLUSIONS
GMV in the left prefrontal cortex differentiates later poor and good functioning schizophrenia patients. Morphological analysis might be considered a candidate for a biological marker in outcome prediction. However, the small sample size, and the lack of female subjects limit generalization of results. Moreover, studies analyzing the predictive value of brain morphology on a single-subject level should be performed to assess its real usefulness in outcome prediction.
Kasparek
Tomas
T
Department of Psychiatry, Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital Brno-Bohunice, Brno, Czech Republic. tomas.kasparek@centrum.cz
Prikryl
Radovan
R
Schwarz
Daniel
D
Kucerova
Hana
H
Marecek
Radek
R
Mikl
Michal
M
Vanicek
Jiri
J
Ceskova
Eva
E
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents