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A team of Chilean researchers is working on the early detection and comprehensive treatment of schizophrenia, with the goal of reducing the neurological damage it causes and improving the quality of life of people suffering from this condition. disease.
The researchers, led by Dr. Hernán Silva, a psychiatrist and researcher at the Millennium Institute for Biomedical Neuroscience (BNI) and the psychiatric clinic of the University of Chile, seek to identify different biomarkers in at-risk patients, as according to official data, about 1% of the Chilean population suffers from schizophrenia, considered very debilitating, but which, according to Silva, addressed early in his diagnosis and treatment could lead to positive changes in the lives of patients. 19659003] To this end, in the last two years, some 20 people, mainly adolescents, have been involved in follow-up work. and the badysis that seeks to establish risk markers to predict the possible development of this pathology or other mental disorders.
"We are working on a program with children and young people that had early demonstrations considered risky".
For this, he said, an investigation is being conducted from a neurobiological point of view "which includes the search for electrophysiological markers, laboratory tests, clinical tests and cognitive functions, which we know they are altered early. " For Silva, early detection allows the patient to have better prevention and rehabilitation, "and can even stop the damage to the nervous system."
Currently, when the diagnosis is made, "there has already been a brain process it is not recoverable," so the work seeks to "do a biomarker detection in the previous steps, what can we say that people will evolve toward schizophrenia or other conditions, such as bipolar disorder. "
Up to now, about 30% of recruited patients have developed schizophrenia and in the next few months it could already have preliminary results of the program.
The study adds to other team investigations, such as a follow-up program for patients who have already had a first psychotic episode.
Schizophrenia mainly affects men and usually occurs between the ages of 15 and 20, when the cerebral cortex consolidates its development and is characterized by the appearance of auditory hallucinations, distortions, thought disorders, negative symptoms of demotivation and reduction of emotionality.
If she is not treated on time, she often produces psychological and work-related disabilities, with a significant economic cost and in terms of human suffering, according to Silva.
"Today, it is clear that schizophrenia is determined by genetic factors that, along with the environmental elements produced in the intrauterine phase or the early years of life, lead to the development of this disease, "he explains
. that it is a clinical and neurobiological process that started long before there are any obvious manifestations, which underlines the importance of diagnosis and early treatment.
Although it may happen that the first signs may also be due to other reasons, such as a depression caused by a family breakdown, sentimental, or by a situation of intimidation, for Silva It is important to be attentive and very connected to the patient's environment.
In this sense, he considered "basic" work with family and teachers, because "it is they who can detect these changes in children and adolescents."
Another factor that increases the risk is the consumer or substances like marijuana during adolescence.
Studies show that such behaviors favor the development of schizophrenia, but also that "after twenty years, its consumption does not seem to influence the development of the pathology",
Silva et al. his team is also working on the dissemination of the program and the creation of a national network for the early detection of schizophrenia in Chile
"We also want to create networks with the rest of the continent. the psychiatrist, especially when programs of this kind have been developed only in the United States and in European countries, "he said:" This approach is a pioneer in South America " , said Hernán Silva
EFE
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