Converging effects of diverse treatment modalities on frontal cortex in schizophrenia: A review of longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging studies.

OBJECTIVES

A variety of treatment options exist for schizophrenia, but the effects of these treatments on brain function are not clearly understood. To facilitate the development of more effective treatment strategies, it is important to identify how brain function in schizophrenia patients is affected by the diverse therapeutic approaches that are currently available. The aim of the present article is to systematically review the evidence for functional brain changes associated with different treatment modalities for schizophrenia.

METHODS

We searched PubMed for longitudinal functional MRI (fMRI) studies reporting on the effects of antipsychotic medications (APM), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) and cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp) on brain function in schizophrenia.

RESULTS

Thirty six studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Functional alterations were observed in diverse brain regions. Across intervention modalities, changes in fMRI parameters were reported most commonly in frontal brain regions including prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate and inferior frontal cortex.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that current treatments for schizophrenia commonly induce functional brain alterations in frontal brain regions. However, interpretability is limited by inconsistency in task and region of interest selection, and failures to replicate. Further task independent fMRI studies examining treatment effects with whole brain analysis are needed to deepen our insights.