Obtaining resting state networks in early onset schizophrenia disease by Independent Component Analysis

Schizophrenia is a mental illness which usually begins in adolescence and can display important disorders of feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Delusion, hallucinations, and disorganized speech and behavior are some of the specific symptoms of schizophrenia. It is indicated that schizophrenia can be confused with other psychiatric disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mood disorder. Advanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging methods are applied in the diagnosis of psychiatric illnesses due to the inadequacy of conventional anatomic imaging in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. Functional MRI which is an advanced MR imaging technique enables mapping of brain regions showing activation at rest or during task related events. This preliminary study investigated functional connectivity differences in some of resting state networks (anterior attention network, temporal network, audio network, and the default mode network) in early onset schizophrenia patients and children of control group (typically development) using resting state functional MRI method. This preliminary study aimed to contribute to the characterization of schizophrenia disease by identifying the specific changes that occur in the resting state networks of schizophrenia brain.