Insula volumes in patients with schizoaffective disorder.

We aimed to investigate insula volumes in patients with schizoaffective disorder with the motivation that schizoaffective disorder has strong resemblance of clinical presentaion with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and that there have been studies on insula volumes in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but not in patients with schizoaffective disorder.

QT and P-wave dispersion during the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) are at increased risk for cardiovascular diseases and complications. This increased risk is considered to be associated with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) abnormalities. However, there is little or no documentation of the relationship between this increased risk and the phases of BD. In this study, we aimed to compare the changes in the QT dispersion (QTd) and P-wave dispersion (Pd), which are predictors of sudden cardiac death and atrial fibrillation, between the patients with manic BD and healthy controls. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The study included a patient group of 44 patients (26 female and 18 male) that were hospitalized due to a diagnosis of manic BD and met the inclusion criteria, and a control group of 34 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals (21 female and 13 male) with no history of psychiatric and neurological disorders. The QTd and Pd values were determined in each participant by performing the standard 12-lead body surface electrocardiography (ECG). RESULTS: The principal electrocardiographic indicators including corrected maximum QT interval, corrected QT dispersion, and minimum P-wave duration significantly increased in the patient group compared to the control group (t=2.815, p<0.01; t=4.935, p<0.001; t=3.337, p<0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results indicated that patients with manic BD are at increased risk for cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction. Therefore, clinicians should be more careful about ECG changes and related possible cardiac conduction problems such as cardiac arrthythmias in patients with manic BD. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate BD and its phases (depression, mania, and hypomania) with regard to ANS and cardiac abnormalities.

Volúmenes de la ínsula en pacientescon trastorno esquizoafectivo / Insula volumes in patients with schizoaffective disorder

Nuestro objetivo era investigar los volúmenes de la ínsula en pacientes con trastorno esquizoafectivo con la motivación de que el trastorno esquizoafectivo presenta una gran similitud de manifestación clínica con la esquizofrenia y el trastorno bipolar, además de que ha habido estudios sobre los volúmenes de la ínsula en pacientes con esquizofrenia y trastorno bipolar, pero no en pacientes con trastorno esquizoafectivo. Nuestra hipótesis era que los pacientes con trastorno esquizoafectivo tendrían alteraciones similares en cuanto a los volúmenes de la ínsula. Se incluyó en el estudio a dieciocho pacientes con trastorno esquizoafectivo y a diecinueve sujetos de control sanos. Los volúmenes medios de la región de la ínsula para ambos lados fueron estadísticamente significativos en los pacientes con trastorno esquizoafectivo en comparación con los sujetos de control sanos (P<0,001). En conclusión, nuestros hallazgos sugieren que los pacientes con trastorno esquizoafectivo tenían volúmenes reducidos de la región de la ínsula. Debido a algunas limitaciones, se requiere replicar nuestros resultados actuales en este grupo de pacientes.(AU)

We aimed to investigate insula volumes in patients with schizoaffective disorder with the motivation that schizoaffective disorder has strong resemblance of clinical presentaion with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and that there have been studies on insula volumes in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but not in patients with schizoaffective disorder. We hypothesized that patients with schizoaffective disorder would have similar alterations in regard to insula volumes. Eighteen patients with schizoaffective disorder and nineteen healthy controls were included into the study. Insula volumes were measured by using the MRI. the mean volumes of the insula region for both sides were statistically significant smaller in patients with schizoaffective disorder compared to those of healthy ones (P<0.001). In conclusion, our findings suggest that patients with schizoaffective disorder had reduced volumes of the insula region. Beacuse of some limitations, it is required to replicate our present results in this patient group.(AU)