Huang AS, Rogers BP, Sheffield JM, et al. - In the present study, the researchers sought to describe thalamic structural abnormalities in psychosis and a neurodevelopmental cohort and to ascertain if nuclear volumes were correlated with cognitive function. In a cross-sectional sample of 472 adults (293 with psychosis) and the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC), consisting of 1,393 youths (398 with psychosis spectrum symptoms and 609 with other psychopathologies), thalamic nuclei volumes were tested using a recently developed, validated method for segmenting thalamic nuclei and complementary voxel-based morphometry. The study results show that smaller thalamic association nuclei represent a psychosis-related neurodevelopmental abnormality, youth risk for psychosis, and cognitive impairment. The identification of specific thalamic nuclei abnormalities in psychosis has implications for early of psychosis risk and treatment of cognitive impairment in psychosis.

Identifying specific thalamic nucleus abnormalities in psychosis has implications for early psychosis risk detection and treatment of cognitive impairment in psychosis.