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Many research groups have reported neuronal loss in imaging studies of bipolar disorder but haven’t been able to determine whether this deterioration is progressive because of technological difficulties in aligning MRI brain scans that are repeated over time. In this longitudinal study of neuronal loss in bipolar patients, researchers in Scotland used a new, tensor-based morphometry technology to distinguish intrinsic anatomic changes from image-misregistration artifacts.
Twenty clinically stable patients with bipolar I disorder (45% euthymic) and 21 controls underwent MRI scanning, IQ testing, and bipolar symptom assessment at study entry and 4 years later. Groups were matched for age, gender, and estimated premorbid IQ; MRI results were co…