Volumetric MRI measurement of caudate nuclei in antipsychotic-naïve patients suffering from a first episode of psychosis

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies measuring basal ganglia volumes in first episode patients suggest that treatment with typical neuroleptics leads to alteration in these brain structures. However, caudate nuclei volumes (CNV) of untreated first-episode patients may even be smaller than in healthy controls. We investigated whether CNV of newly diagnosed neuroleptic-naïve psychotic patients differ as compared to an age- and sex-matched healthy control group to detect possible treatment effects early in the course of this illness. Magnetic resonance images were acquired in 37 un-medicated psychotic patients and 37 healthy controls. Ten of the patients were re-examined after 12 weeks of treatment with the second generation antipsychotic quetiapine. Regions of interest (ROI) delineating the caudate nuclei bilaterally were drawn manually using Brain Image software. The neuroleptic-naïve patients showed a mean CNV of 8.40 cc (SD = 1.01) and the controls of 8.55 cc (SD = 1.16). There was no significant difference between groups (F = .600; P = .441). In contrast to previous studies in patients treated with typical neuroleptics, this cross-sectional MRI study did not find significant differences in CNV of neuroleptic-naïve first-episode patients compared to healthy controls.