Investigation of orbitofrontal sulcogyral pattern in children and adolescents with schizophrenia / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the association between the structural patterns of orbitofrontal sulcogyral pattern (OSP)and the susceptibility to schizophrenia in children and adolescents patients with schizophrenia. Methods Seventy-two childhood and adolescence schizophrenia aged 6~18 years were enrolled as the case group and 78 sex-, age-, education-matched healthy children served as the control group. MR images were acquired with a 3.0 T Magnetom Symphony MRI system. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to evaluate the symptom severity of patients.The pattern type of OFC was classified based on continuity among medial (MOS),lateral (LOS)and transverse (TOS) orbital sulci according to the method of Chiavaras and Petrides'. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) sulcogyral pattern was classified into three types(TypeⅠ,TypeⅡ,TypeⅢ)in each hemisphere. Results There were significant differences in the distribution of OFC patterns between the control and the case group (Left hemisphere Χ2=6.668,P=0.036; Right hemisphere Χ2=7.501,P=0.024). The linear regression analysis showed that Type Ⅲ in either hemisphere was associated with more severe symptoms in schizophrenia patients (B=7.214, P=0.008). Conclusions Type Ⅲ sulcogyral pattern may be a morphological risk marker for schizophrenia. Compared to the other two types, the Type Ⅲ expression is associated with more severe clinical symptoms.