Combined Grey Matter VBM and White Matter TBSS Analysis in Young First Episode Psychosis Patients With and Without Cannabis Consumption

Cannabis consumption is temporally associated with the development of first episode psychosis (FEP). Whether or not the chronic use of this substance induces structural brain changes that may be responsible for the cognitive and psychological disturbances in this disorder is still matter of debate. To address this issue, we compared the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-assessed grey (GM) and white matter (WM) changes in young FEP patients between users versus non-users of cannabis. This prospective study included 50 consecutive FEP subjects: 33 users (22.7 ± 4.1 years, 4 women) and 17 non-users (23.9 ± 4.2 years, 10 women). Users were further divided into 15 heavy (23.3 ± 4.5 years, 2 women) and 18 light users (22.2 ± 3.8 years, 2 women) according to their lifetime cannabis use. Voxel-based-morphometry (VBM) analysis of GM and tract-based-spatial-statistics (TBSS) analysis of WM were performed. Age and gender were used as non-explanatory co-regressors. There were no supra-threshold differences between user and non-user groups for both GM and WM parameters. This was also the case when only heavy users were compared to non-users. Multivariate models controlling for age and gender confirmed these findings. We found no evidence for cannabis consumption related alterations in GM or WM in FEP subjects. Due to the strict correction for multiple comparisons and sample size, we cannot formally exclude subtle morphometric changes associated with cannabis consumption. However, even if present, such potential alterations would be of low magnitude.