Brain morphometry: Schizophrenia

During the last three decades, neuroimaging techniques have emerged as an essential tool for the noninvasive examination of subtle brain dysfunctions in psychiatric patient populations. These techniques helped clarify in vivo some of the principal neurobiological characteristic of the quintessential major mental disorder, schizophrenia, providing evidence for potential biomarkers that might improve the diagnostic process, therapeutic monitoring, and outcomes. Here, we describe the main brain morphometric techniques (including volumetric, shape analysis, and microstructural techniques) currently used in research on schizophrenia and summarize the results of the most important studies in the field. This chapter aims at providing an exhaustive description of the state-of-the-art in vivo brain morphology in schizophrenia in order to better characterize the disorder from a neurobiological point of view, thus providing a comprehensive background for further research on this topic. A general picture emerges in which schizophrenia is characterized by widespread brain cortical and subcortical, structural, and microstructural anomalies since the early phases of the course of illness. Volumetric, shape, and microstructural disruptions in structures of the fronto-temporo-parietal network are predominant both cross-sectionally and in terms of altered developmental trajectories and outcome prediction. Future studies on brain morphometric indices in schizophrenia should focus on their reliability as predictors of treatment response through longitudinal designs in large samples.