engleski

Incidental radiologic findings on brain MRI in schizoaffective and bipolar I disorder

In vivo brain imaging has been widely used in psychiatric research to de¬tect subtle changes in brain morphology, especially in schizophrenia. Psychi¬atric patients have been reported to have an increased prevalence of abnormal CT scans compared to asymptomatic volunteers. Recent MRI data show that patients with chronic schizophrenia have an increased prevalence of inciden¬tal brain abnormalities, with a small proportion requiring urgent medical re¬ferral. The aim of this study was to investigate incidental brain abnormalities on brain MRI in patients with schizoaffective and bipolar I disorder. Brain MRI scans in a total of 45 subjects (controls, n=15 ; schizoaffective disorder, n=15 ; bipolar I disorder, n=15) were analyzed by a neuroradiologist blind to diagnosis and categorized according to referral criteria (no referral, routine referral, immediate or urgent referral). Both patient groups had an increased prevalence of incidental radiologic findings compared to controls. Patients with bipolar I disorder had a signifi¬cantly higher prevalence of incidental radiologic findings than patients with schizoaffective disorders. In this patient group, the prevalence was even higher than that usually reported for CT scans in psychiatric patients. None of the findings required urgent or immediate medical referral. 43 MRI revealed an increased prevalence of incidental radiologic findings in patients with schizoaffective and bipolar I disorder. Patients with bipolar I disorder are more likely to have incidental radiologic findings than patients with schizoaffective disorder. These abnormalities did not alter the treatment of the patients, but may reflect brain pathology related to their illness.

Brain MRI; Schizoaffective disorder; Bipolar disorder

Indexed/Abstracted in: Neuroscience Citation Index ; EMBASE/Excerpta Medica