title: Brain Structural Abnormalities in a Group of Never-Medicated Patients With Long-Term Schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated brain morphometry in chronically ill but never-medicated schizophrenia patients and whether the relation of age to morphometric abnormalities differed from that in healthy subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional design, high-resolution T1-weighted images were acquired from 25 schizophrenia patients with untreated chronic illness lasting 5 to 47 years and 33 matched healthy comparison subjects. Cortical thickness and gray matter volume were compared in the two groups. In regions with significant group differences, nonlinear modeling of age-related effects was used to test for accelerated decline in the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Schizophrenia patients had less cortical thickness in the bilateral ventromedial prefrontal cortices, left superior temporal gyrus, and right pars triangularis, relative to comparison subjects, and greater cortical thickness in the left superior parietal lobe. The relation of age to cortical thickness indicated faster age-related cortical thinning in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left superior temporal gyrus, and right pars triangularis in patients than in comparison subjects, but slower thinning in the left superior parietal lobe. Gray matter volume was greater in the putamen bilaterally and smaller in the right middle temporal gyrus and right lingual gyrus of the patients, but age-related effects did not differ from those of the comparison subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The accelerated age-related decline in prefrontal and temporal cortical thickness in never-medicated schizophrenia patients suggests a neuroprogressive process in some brain regions. Slower age-related cortical thinning of the superior parietal cortex and striatal volumetric abnormalities unrelated to age suggest different pathological processes over time in these regions.
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Jieke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sweeney
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.affiliation: From the Huaxi MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, Center for Medical Imaging, and the Department of Psychiatry, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; the Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*