A typical antipsychotic treatment induced gradually expanding white matter alterations in healthy individuals with persistent auditory verbal hallucinations—an artificially controlled pilot study
Open Access
- 30 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in International Journal of Neuroscience
- Vol. 131 (6), 536-543
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00207454.2020.1750387
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the effects of atypical antipsychotics (AaPs) on brain white matter (WM) tracts in healthy individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations (Hi-AVHs). Methods: We analyzed neuroimaging, AVH symptoms, and cognitive assessment data obtained from 39 Hi-AVHs who reported being distressed by persistent AVHs and volunteered to receive AaP treatment. We used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and t tests to explore AaP pharmacotherapy effects on AVH symptoms and brain WM alterations in Hi-AVH subjects. Results: TBSS and t tests revealed WM alterations after AaP treatment, relative to pretreatment observations. Although AaPs alleviated AVH symptoms, WM alterations in these subjects expanded over 8 months of AaP treatment, encompassing most major WM tracts by the end of the observation period, including the corpus callosum, arcuate fasciculus, cortico-spinal tracts, anterior commissure, and posterior commissure. Conclusions: The worsening of AaP-associated WM alterations observed in this study suggest that AaPs may not be a good choice for the treatment of Hi-AVHs despite their ability to alleviate AVHs.Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Tianjin Health Bureau Foundation (KR02)
- the Key Projects of the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin, China (0)
- the national key Research and Development Program of China (004)
- the Multidisciplinary Team for Cognitive Impairment of Shanxi Science and Technology Innovation Training Team (27)
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