Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Treatment Strategies in Schizophrenia

Susanne      Karch; Oliver      Pogarell; Christoph      Mulert

Abstract

Neurobiological correlates of various treatment approaches (e.g. psychopharmacology, cognitive behavioural therapy) have become an important issue in recent neuroimaging studies. In schizophrenia, dysfunctions especially in frontal and parietal brain regions as well as the ventral striatum have been demonstrated in numerous studies. The review includes functional MRI studies about neurobiological correlates of treatment effects in schizophrenic patients. Treatmentassociated changes in brain activity were shown especially in the anterior cingulate cortex, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the ventral striatum and the amygdala. In addition, the differential effects of various treatment approaches including different neuroleptics (atypical neuroleptics, typical neuroleptics) as well as cognitive behavioural therapy will be considered in this review. The influence of functional differences on the differential effect of typical and atypical antipsychotics on cognitive functions will be discussed.

Keywords: fMRI, Schizophrenia, Treatment effects, Neurobiological correlates, "psychopharmacology", neuroimaging studies, parietal brain regions, ventral striatum, numerous studies, "anterior cingulate cortex", ventral striatum, amygdala, atypical antipsychotics, neuroleptics