A multi-scanner study of subcortical brain volume abnormalities in schizophrenia

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Psychiatric Disorders
• Brain Anatomy

Background:

• Schizophrenia is associated with significant subcortical brain abnormalities.
• Automated image analysis software can quantify these abnormalities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine subcortical brain abnormalities in schizophrenia patients.
• To provide effect size estimates for prospective multi-scanner schizophrenia studies.

Main Methods:

• High-resolution structural MRI scans from 186 schizophrenia patients and 176 controls were analyzed using FreeSurfer 5.0.0.
• Data were acquired from seven 3-Tesla scanners.
• Univariate mixed model regression analyses and weighted mean effect size computations were performed.

Main Results:

• Schizophrenia patients exhibited significantly smaller intracranial, amygdala, and hippocampus volumes compared to controls.
• Patients also showed larger lateral ventricle, putamen, and pallidum volumes.
• Weighted mean effect sizes from single-site studies were generally larger than those from the overall multi-site sample.

Conclusions:

• Prospectively collected structural imaging data can be pooled across sites to enhance statistical power for schizophrenia research.
• Multi-scanner effect sizes are crucial for designing future schizophrenia neuroimaging studies.
• Despite standardized protocols, between-site variance persists in neuroimaging data.