Fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery MR imaging in schizophrenia-associated with idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome)

Abstract

Background. – Patients with schizophrenia show a significantly higher frequency of hyperbilirubinemia the patients suffering from other psychiatric disorders and the general healthy population. The objective of the current study was to determine whether patients with schizophrenia-associated idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome, GS) have specific changes in signal intensities on fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance (MR) images. Methods. – Axial 5-mm-thick FLAIR MR images from schizophrenia patients with GS ( n = 18) and schizophrenia patients without GS ( n = 18), all diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria, were compared with age- and sex-matched non-psychiatric controls ( n = 18). Signal intensities in the hippocampus, amygdala, caudate, putamen, thalamus, cingulate gyrus, and insula were graded relative to cortical signal intensity in the frontal lobe. Results. – Compared to both schizophrenia patients without GS and normal controls, the schizophrenia patients with GS showed significantly increased signal intensities in almost all regions studied. Conclusion. – Patients with schizophrenia-associated GS have specific changes of signal intensities on FLAIR MR images, suggesting that schizophrenia with GS produces changes in the fronto-temporal cortex, limbic system, and basal ganglia.