"Gaining Insight into the Pathology of Early Psychosis Using Brain Imaging"
Adrienne C. Lahti, MD
Heman E. Drummond Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology
Heersink School of Medicine
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
Objectives
The activity is designed to help the learner
- Describe an imaging technique that could help predict treatment response to antipsychotic medication
- Discuss the relationship between the duration of untreated psychosis and brain functional connectivity
- Describe why the shrinking of hippocampal volumes in early psychosis is clinically relevant
- Describe a brain imaging technique allowing the measurement of bioenergetic compounds.
Summary
We will address how brain-imaging techniques can help determine the pathophysiologic factors occurring at the onset of the psychotic illness, especially those that have detrimental effects on the clinical outcome of patients. Identifying these factors could lead to the identification of specific therapeutic targets that could be deployed as early interventions, heading off the longer-term negative consequences of psychosis.
This talk is sponsored by the Hollender Lecture Fund, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. This educational activity received no commercial support.