Structural investigation of frontal brain areas in patients with sizaaffective disorders

Schizoaffective disorder; It is a separate disease that includes features of schizophrenia and mood disorders. In this thesis, it was aimed to investigate the volume changes in the frontal brain structures in patients with schizoaffective disorder in order to contribute to the elucidation of the etiopathogenesis of the disease. It consists of 18 patients and 19 healthy control groups who were admitted to Fırat University Hospital Mental Health and Diseases Outpatient Clinic and who were diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (SAD) according to DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, Brief Psychiatric Evaluation Scale (BPRS), Positive Symptoms Evaluation Scale (SAPS), Negative Symptoms Evaluation Scale (SANS) and DSM-IV Structured Clinical Interview (SCID-I) were applied to the study group. The volume measurements of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) were performed in the patient and control groups using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The mean DLPFC volume and mean ACC volume of patients with schizoaffective disorder were found higher than the mean DLPFC volume and the mean ACC volume of the control group. However, this difference was not statistically significant. The mean OFC volume of patients with SAD was lower than the average OFC volume of the control group. However, this low was not statistically significant. As a result, although the frontal brain areas were found to have volume changes in gray matter in schizoaffective disorder, no significant findings were found volumetrically. Due to some limitations in our study, it may be suggested that this should be supported by prospective studies in larger sample numbers. Key Words: Schizoaffective Disorder, Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Orbitofrontal Cortex, Anterior Cingulate Cortex, MRI