First Episode Schizophrenia Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Assessment after Atypical Antipsychotics

Full text: Aim: Since regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) findings in schizophrenic patients are inconsistent, the aim of our study was to evaluate and compare rCBF in the first episode of schizophrenia, before and after atypical antipsychotic treatment. Method: 21 patients who met criteria for schizophrenia were assessed PANSS score and tomographic brain perfusion (SPECT). The treatment was administered for 10-12 weeks and the dose was 4.8mg/day Risperidone, 11.6mg/day Olanzepine, 440mg/day Quetiapine. After finishing treatment all patients underwent a control SPECT study. Results: PANSS scores revealed two groups: group A-14 patients with predominant positive symptoms; 9 received Olanzapine and 5 Quetiapine. In group B -7 patients with predominant negative symptoms received Risperidone. Positive symptoms were associated with hypoperfusion in posterior parietal regions and superior temporal gyrus, bilaterally; for negative symptoms we found hypoperfusion in prefrontal cortex, predominantly in left side and a hyper perfusion in left basal ganglia. All patients that received atypical antipsychotic drugs had clinical improvement and decreases in PANSS scores; the control SPECT analysis revealed the same cortical changes as first studies in 15 patients and an increase of the rCBF in frontal lobes for 4 patients. 14 patients we noticed an increased rCBF at subcortical level, especially in left caudate nuclei. Conclusions: We found nonspecific features of rCBF in patients with first episode of schizophrenia, suggesting a perfusion dynamic balance rather than a fixed model. Those aspects are much more related to clinical symptoms, than to the therapeutical response. The rCBF changes in subcortical level after treatment (64.4% increase of rCBF; 35.6% not modified), can have a good prognostic value for therapeutic response. (author)