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Adolescents diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychoses appear to show greater decreases in graymatter volume and increases in cerebrospinal fluid in the frontallobe compared to healthy adolescents without a diagnosis ofpsychosis, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry , one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Progressive loss of brain gray matter (GM) has been reported inchildhood-onset schizophrenia; however, it is uncertain whetherthese changes are shared by pediatric patients with differentpsychoses," the authors write as background information in thestudy. Celso Arango, M.D., Ph.D., of the Hospital General UniversitarioGregorio Mara n, Madrid, Spain, and colleagues, examined theprogression of brain changes in first-episode early-onset psychosisand the relationship to diagnosis and prognosis at two-yearfollow-up among patients at six child and adolescent psychiatricunits in Spain. The authors performed magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) of the brain for 61 patients (25 diagnosed withschizophrenia, 16 with bipolar disorder and 20 with other psychoses) and 70 healthy control participants.MRI scans were conducted at study baseline and after two years offollow-up. Compared with control patients, those diagnosed with schizophreniashowed greater gray matter volume loss in the frontal lobe duringthe two-year follow-up. Patients with schizophrenia also showedcerebrospinal fluid increase in the left frontal lobe.Additionally, changes for total brain gray matter and left parietalgray matter were significantly different in patients withschizophrenia compared with patients in the control group. Among patients with schizophrenia, progressive brain volume changesin certain areas were related to markers of poorer prognosis, suchas more weeks of hospitalization during follow-up and lessimprovement in negative symptoms. Greater left frontal gray mattervolume loss was related to more weeks of hospitalization whereasseverity of negative symptoms correlated with cerebrospinal fluidincrease in patients with schizophrenia. The authors did not find any significant changes in patients withbipolar disorder compared to control patients, and longitudinalbrain changes in the control group were consistent with theexpected pattern described for healthy adolescents. "In conclusion, we found progression of gray matter volume lossafter a two-year follow-up in patients who ended up with adiagnosis of schizophrenia but not bipolar disease compared withhealthy controls," the authors write. "Some of thesepathophysiologic processes seem to be markers of poorer prognosis.To develop therapeutic strategies to counteract these pathologicprogressive brain changes, future studies should focus on theirneurobiological underpinnings." Additional References Citations. I am an expert from pneumatic-equipments.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Air Flow Control Valves Manufacturer , Pneumatic Solenoid Valves, Pulse Jet Valves,and more.
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