Positive and negative symptoms' relation to structural and functional brain changes in schizophrenic patients

Abstract

During the past decades brain structure and function have been studied intensively in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenic patients have been reported to have smaller total brain volume and sulcal and ventricular enlargement compared with healthy controls. Functionally, lower metabolism or rCBF in prefrontal cortex, especially during frontal activation tests, has been the most reproducible finding. These structural and functional brain changes have been studied relative to specific schizophrenic symptoms. There seems to be a tendency that structural brain changes are related to more negative or less positive symptoms. The findings concerning functional brain changes are more complex, pointing to a lower total metabolism in autistic patients, while patients with many positive symptoms and/or thought disorder may have a relatively higher rCBF/metabolism in some cortical brain areas.