PMID- 24993979 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20150223 LR - 20140718 IS - 1423-0224 (Electronic) IS - 0302-282X (Linking) VI - 69 IP - 4 DP - 2014 TI - MRI predicts remission at 1 year in first-episode schizophrenia in females with larger striato-thalamic volumes. PG - 243-8 LID - 10.1159/000358837 [doi] AB - BACKGROUND/AIMS: The Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group has defined remission as 'a low-mild symptom intensity level, maintained for a minimum of 6 months, where such symptoms do not affect an individual's behaviour' [Andreasen et al.: Am J Psychiatry 2005;162:441-449]. Since brain morphology relates to symptomatology, treatment and illness progression, MRI may assist in predicting remission. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients newly diagnosed with DSM-IV schizophrenia underwent MRI brain scan prior to antipsychotic exposure. The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) score was entered into a voxel-based analysis to evaluate its relationship with cerebral grey matter volume from the baseline MRI. We entered age, total intracranial volume and intake GAF score as co-variates. Males and females were analysed separately because gender is a potent determinant of outcome. RESULTS: Males had lower GAF scores than females, both at intake and at 1 year. Males comprised only 40% (12 out of 39) of the early remission group. For females only, early remission was strongly and positively correlated with bilateral lentiform and striatal volumes. For males, there was no such relationship. CONCLUSION: Larger striato-thalamic volume correlated with early remission in females only. These baseline MRI findings were unlikely to be confounded by antipsychotic treatment and chronicity. These brain morphological markers show gender dimorphism and may assist in the prediction of early remission in newly diagnosed schizophrenia. FAU - Fung, Germaine AU - Fung G AD - Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China. FAU - Cheung, Charlton AU - Cheung C FAU - Chen, Eric AU - Chen E FAU - Lam, Carmen AU - Lam C FAU - Chiu, Cindy AU - Chiu C FAU - Law, Chi-Wing AU - Law CW FAU - Leung, Mei-Kei AU - Leung MK FAU - Deng, Michelle AU - Deng M FAU - Cheung, Vinci AU - Cheung V FAU - Qi, Li AU - Qi L FAU - Nailin, Yao AU - Nailin Y FAU - Tai, Kin-Shing AU - Tai KS FAU - Yip, Lawrance AU - Yip L FAU - Suckling, John AU - Suckling J FAU - Sham, Pak AU - Sham P FAU - McAlonan, Grainne AU - McAlonan G FAU - Chua, Siew-Eng AU - Chua SE LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20140627 PL - Switzerland TA - Neuropsychobiology JT - Neuropsychobiology JID - 7512895 RN - 0 (Antipsychotic Agents) SB - IM MH - Adult MH - Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use MH - Corpus Striatum/*pathology MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Magnetic Resonance Imaging MH - Male MH - Organ Size MH - Prognosis MH - Schizophrenia/*diagnosis/drug therapy/*pathology MH - Sex Characteristics MH - Thalamus/*pathology EDAT- 2014/07/06 06:00 MHDA- 2015/02/24 06:00 CRDT- 2014/07/05 06:00 PHST- 2012/11/06 00:00 [received] PHST- 2014/01/20 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2014/07/05 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2014/07/06 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2015/02/24 06:00 [medline] AID - 000358837 [pii] AID - 10.1159/000358837 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Neuropsychobiology. 2014;69(4):243-8. doi: 10.1159/000358837. Epub 2014 Jun 27.