Radiological findings in individuals at high risk of psychosis

• Published in: Journal of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry Vol. 77; no. 2; pp. 229 - 233
• Main Authors: Borgwardt, S J, Radue, E-W, Götz, K, Aston, J, Drewe, M, Gschwandtner, U, Haller, S, Pflüger, M, Stieglitz, R-D, McGuire, P K, Riecher-Rössler, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.02.2006; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Group
• Subjects: 10th revision; Adolescent; Adult; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Basel Screening Instrument for Psychosis; Biological and medical sciences; BLIPS; BPRS; Brain - pathology; Brain Diseases - diagnosis; Brain Diseases - psychology; Brain research; brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; BSIP; depressive controls; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Disease Progression; DSM-III-R; Female; first episode psychosis; healthy controls; high risk of schizophrenia; Humans; ICD-10; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; International Classification of Diseases; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Neurology; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Psychosis; Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; radiological findings; Reference Values; revised; Risk Factors; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - diagnosis; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - psychology; third edition; Toxicology; Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system; Psychosis; High risk; Nervous system diseases
• ISSN: 0022-3050; 1468-330X; 1468-330X
• DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.2005.069690

Objective: To assess the prevalence of radiological magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in individuals at high risk of schizophrenia. Methods: MRI scans from individuals at high risk of schizophrenia (HR; n = 37) were assessed by a radiologist blind to group status and compared with scans from patients with first episode psychosis (FE; n = 30), depressive controls (DC; n = 17), and healthy controls (HC; n = 26). Results: There was a significantly higher proportion of radiological findings in individuals at high risk of schizophrenia (35%) and patients with first-episode psychosis (40%) than in patients with depression (18%) or healthy controls (12%). These differences were specific to findings regarded as potentially clinically significant as opposed to normal variants; however, there was no indication for medical treatment. Conclusions: The results suggest that a large proportion of those at high risk of psychosis have radiological findings on MRI scanning, and that the prevalence of radiological findings in this group is similar to that in patients with first episode psychosis.