Voxel-based morphometry in patients with mood disorder bipolar I mania in comparison to normal controls

Abstract

Abstract Background Neuroimaging is used to study brain structural alterations in neuropsychiatric diseases including bipolar disorder (BD). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) quantifies structural changes detected in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim of this study was to identify brain structural changes in patients with mood disorder bipolar I mania, compared to healthy controls; and detect any correlations between volumetric findings and different clinical aspects of the disease. VBM was used to identify structural changes in 24 patients with bipolar I mania compared to 16 controls. Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) was used to evaluate clinical severity of BD. t test was used to compare differences in volumetric data and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to detect potential correlations between volumetric data and clinical parameters of BD. Results Compared to controls, BD patients had significantly larger right globus pallidus and right lateral ventricle. There was significant correlation between volumetric data of different brain structures and clinical criteria of BD including age of onset, illness duration, YMRS, number of manic attacks, and duration of the last attack. Conclusions VBM could address specific structural findings in bipolar I mania that may contribute to pathophysiology of the disease and show significant correlation with different clinical aspects of the disease. Trial registration This clinical trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration number NCT03181698, registered 11 June 2017.