Schizophrenia brain imaging

A diagnosis of schizophrenia is made clinically, as there are no psychological assessments, brain imaging, or laboratory examinations that confirm the diagnosis. 

Brain imaging studies provide unequivocal evidence that schizophrenia is a disease of brain 878... 

Soares JC, Innis RB. Neurochemical brain imaging investigations of schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 1999 46 600-615. 

Sharif Z, Gewirtz G, Iqbal N. Brain imaging in schizophrenia a review. PsychiatrAnn 1993 23 123-134. 

Before the development of brain imaging techniques, neuroanatomical correlates were primarily related to structural lesions of the CNS. Despite the fact that abnormalities have been found in both schizophrenia and affective illness, interest in the neuropathology of mood disorders has not been as intense as for schizophrenia. 

A CT scan or MRI of the brain following a strokelike episode reveals a lucency (an area of luminosity) that is consistent with infarction. Later, cerebral atrophy and calcifications may be observed on brain imaging studies. The vascular territories of focal brain lesions and the prior medical history of these patients differ substantially from those of typical patients with stroke. Serial MRI studies often demonstrate lesion resolution, differentiating these lesions from typical ischemic strokes. An electroencephalogram is often performed when seizures are a concern. This is especially necessary in MELAS since patients occasionally have intractable status epilepticus as a terminal condition. Mental deterioration usually progresses after repeated episodic attacks. Psychiatric abnormalities (e.g., altered mental status, schizophrenia) may accompany the strokelike episodes. The encephalopathy may progress to... 

Besson, J., Corrigan, F., Cherryman, F., Smith, F. (1987). Nuclear magnetic resonance brain imaging in chronic schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 161-163. 

Gur RE, Chin S. 1999. Laterality in functional brain imaging studies of schizophrenia. Schiz Bull 25(1) 141-156. 

Van Haren NE, Bakker SC, Kahn RS. 2008. Genes and structural brain imaging in schizophrenia. Curr Opin Psychiatry 21 161-167. 

Abi-Dargham A, Laruelle M. 2005. Mechanisms of action of second generation antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia Insights from brain imaging studies. Eur Psychiatry 20 15-27. 

Laruelle M (2000) The role of endogenous sensitization in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia Implications from recent brain imaging studies. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 31 371-384. 

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