Relations of Hippocampal Volume in First Schizophrenia Episodes: A MRI Volumetric Study

Overview

Forty seven first episode schizophrenia men were assessed by MRI with hippocampal volumetry, short-term memory and executive functions tests and their symptomatology was assessed by PANSS. They were re-assessed one year after their first episode. We did not find any correlations between hippocampal volume and cognitive functions linked with mediotemporal and frontal regions – memory and executive functions. Hippocampal volume did not correlate with symptoms during the acute phase of first episode schizophrenia, and did not predict symptoms in the one-year follow-up. There was also no connection of hippocampal volume with treatment reactivity during the acute phase of first episode schizophrenia. Analysis including both baseline hippocampal volume and prefrontal functioning shows an association with positive symptoms. We did not find parameters suitable for one-year outcome prediction. Our results show that multimodal analysis is necessary in the search of neuronal basis of clinical manifestation of schizophrenia.

Key words:
hippocampus, schizophrenia, symptoms, memory, dysconnectivity.