MRI and Prediction of Outcome in First-Episode Schizophrenia
MRI and Prediction of Outcome in First-Episode Schizophrenia
Accumulating evidence points to schizophrenia and psychoses as pathophysiologically heterogeneous disorders with variable outcomes. This has hampered our ability to identify biomarkers for early diagnosis, stratification and measurement of disease progression. Neuroimaging data, possibly in combination with other biomarkers of disease, represent promising tools for stratifying patients with psychoses in an objective, quantitative way, according to clinical and functional outcomes, to eventually generate patient clusters that are more clinically meaningful, and useful to detect true therapeutic effects in clinical trials.
Conclusion
Accumulating evidence points to schizophrenia and psychoses as pathophysiologically heterogeneous disorders with variable outcomes. This has hampered our ability to identify biomarkers for early diagnosis, stratification and measurement of disease progression. Neuroimaging data, possibly in combination with other biomarkers of disease, represent promising tools for stratifying patients with psychoses in an objective, quantitative way, according to clinical and functional outcomes, to eventually generate patient clusters that are more clinically meaningful, and useful to detect true therapeutic effects in clinical trials.
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