title: Structural brain changes in First Episode Schizophrenia compared with Fronto-Temporal Lobar Degeneration: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The authors sought to compare gray matter changes in First Episode Schizophrenia (FES) compared with Fronto-Temporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD) using meta-analytic methods applied to neuro-imaging studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic search was conducted for published, structural voxel-based morphometric MRI studies in patients with FES or FTLD. Data were combined using anatomical likelihood estimation (ALE) to determine the extent of gray matter decreases and analysed to ascertain the degree of overlap in the spatial distribution of brain changes in both diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data were extracted from 18 FES studies (including a total of 555 patients and 621 comparison subjects) and 20 studies of FTLD or related disorders (including a total of 311 patients and 431 comparison subjects). The similarity in spatial overlap of brain changes in the two disorders was significant (p = 0.001). Gray matter deficits common to both disorders included bilateral caudate, left insula and bilateral uncus regions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a significant overlap in the distribution of structural brain changes in First Episode Schizophrenia and Fronto-Temporal Lobar Degeneration. This may reflect overlapping aetiologies, or a common vulnerability of these regions to the distinct aetio-pathological processes in the two disorders.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, UK. b.olabi@sms.ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Bayanne
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Olabi
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ellison-Wright
authors.forename: Ed
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bullmore
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lawrie
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D057174:Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*