Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Psychosis

Abstract

Background Biomarkers provide clinicians with a predictable model for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of medical ailments. Psychiatry has lagged behind other areas of medicine in the identification of biomarkers for clinical diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we investigated the current state of neuroimaging as it pertains to biomarkers for psychosis. Methods We reviewed systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the structural (sMRI), functional (fMRI), diffusion-tensor (DTI), Positron emission tomography (PET) and spectroscopy (MRS) studies of subjects at-risk or those with an established schizophrenic illness. Only articles reporting effect-sizes and confidence intervals were included in an assessment of robustness. Results Out of the identified meta-analyses and systematic reviews, 21 studies met the inclusion criteria for assessment. There were 13 sMRI, 4 PET, 3 MRS, and 1 DTI studies. The search terms included in the current review encompassed familial high risk (FHR), clinical high risk (CHR), First episode (FES), Chronic (CSZ), schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), and healthy controls (HC). Conclusions Currently, few neuroimaging biomarkers can be considered ready for diagnostic use in patients with psychosis. At least in part, this may be related to the challenges inherent in the current symptom-based approach to classifying these disorders. While available studies suggest a possible value of imaging biomarkers for monitoring disease progression, more systematic research is needed. To date, the best value of imaging data in psychoses has been to shed light on questions of disease pathophysiology, especially through the characterization of endophenotypes.

Exploring attentive task-based connectivity for screening attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder children: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

“…14 Therefore, neuroimaging-based biomarkers, with advantages in understanding brain structures, functions, and networks, have recently gained popularity. 15,16 As a neuroimaging technique with high spatial resolution, functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) provides abundant information about brain features, including anatomical structure (e.g., cortical thickness, surface area, and volume), activation, and networks [e.g., functional connectivity (FC), graph-theory parameters, and regional homogeneity]. 17,18 The prominence of FC among other features in diagnosing ADHD had been evidenced.…”

Prefrontal cortex activation of return-to-work trainees in remission of mental disorders with depressive symptoms compared to that of healthy controls

“…Functional neuroimaging techniques are a noninvasive tool that would be useful for the study of potential biomarkers related to mental states [6][7][8] because the identification of the biomarker includes inaccessible brain tissues for study and scarcity of valid animal models. 6 A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique has been used for investigating the relationship between emotional states induced by a video clip and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during working memory (WM) tasks. 9 Recently, resting-state fMRI studies have reported that the mental states of depressed patients are related to the functional connectivity in the default mode network area.…”

Retrospective study on structural neuroimaging in first-episode psychosis

“…These include brain injury, demyelinating disease, tumours, multiple sclerosis or stroke. In recent years, much research has been made in both structural and functional neuroimaging in early phases of psychosis ( Dazzan et al , 2015 ; Hager & Keshavan , 2015 ; Jardri , 2013 ; Jung et al , 2010 ; Strakowski et al , 2008 ; Tognin et al , 2014 ). However, the impact of these studies in clinical practice has been disappointing.…”