机器学习有助于诊断，治疗精神分裂症

Through the use of machine learning, psychiatric researchers can apply analysis techniques to large amounts of data. This gives scientists the unprecedented opportunity to categorize and compare complex brain patterns, genes and behaviors to gain major insights into the nature of a specific mental illness.

通过使用后机器学习，精神病学研究人员可以将分析技术应用于大量数据。这为科学家提供了前所未有的机会，可以对复杂的大脑模式，基因和行为进行分类和比较，从而获得对特定精神疾病本质的重要理解。

A new Canadian study brings us closer to the idea that machine learning could one day play a major role in helping doctors diagnose and treat mental health disorders.

加拿大的一项新研究使这个想法更接近了，即机器学习可以在有朝一日帮助医生诊断和治疗精神分裂症。

The study, published in the journalMolecular Psychiatry, used a machine-learning algorithm to look at functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of newly diagnosedschizophreniapatients, previously untreated schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects.

这项发表在分子精神病学上的研究使用机器学习算法来观察新诊断的精神分裂症患者

By measuring the connections of the brain’s superior temporal cortex to other brain regions, the algorithm successfully identified schizophrenia patients with 78 percent accuracy. It also predicted with 82 percent accuracy whether or not a patient would respond positively to theantipsychoticdrug risperidone.

通过测量大脑的颞上皮层和其他大脑区域的连接，该算法成功识别精神分裂症患者的准确率为78%。它还预测患者是否会对抗精神疾病药物利培酮产生积极反应，准确率为82%。

“This is the first step, but ultimately we hope to find reliable biomarkers that can predict schizophrenia before the symptoms show up,” said study leader Bo Cao, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Alberta.

“这是第一步，但最终我们希望找到可靠的生物标记物，可以在出现症状之前预测精神分裂症。”阿尔伯塔大学精神病学助理教授，研究负责人Bo Cao如是说。

“We also want to use machine learning to optimize a patient’s treatment plan. It wouldn’t replace the doctor. In the future, with the help of machine learning, if the doctor can select the best medicine or procedure for a specific patient at the first visit, it would be a good step forward.”

"我们还希望利用机器学习来优化患者的治疗计划。它不会取代医生。将来，在机器学习的帮助下，如果医生可以为患者选择最佳的药物或程序，这将会是很大的进步。

Around one in 100 people will develop schizophrenia, a severe and disabling psychiatric disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations and cognitive impairments. Most patients with schizophrenia develop the symptoms early in life and will struggle for decades.

大约每100人中就有一个患上精神分裂症，这是一种以妄想，幻觉和认知障碍为特征的严重的，致残的精神疾病。大多数精神分裂症患者在人生的早期就出现症状，并将持续数十年。

According to Cao, early diagnosis of schizophrenia and many mental disorders is an ongoing challenge. Developing a personalized treatment strategy at a patient’s first visit is also a challenge for many clinicians.

据Cao说，精神分裂症和许多精神疾病的早期诊断是一个挑战。在患者第一次就诊时制定个性化治疗策略对许多临床医生来说也是一个挑战。

Treatment is often determined by a trial-and-error style. If a drug is not working well, the patient may suffer prolonged symptoms and side effects, and miss the best time window to get the disease controlled and treated.

治疗通常通过反复试验的方式来确定。如果药物效果不佳，患者可能会出现长时间的症状和副作用，并错过了控制和治疗疾病的最佳时间窗口。

Cao hopes to expand the work to include other mental illness such as major depressiveand bipolardisorders. While the initial results of schizophreniadiagnosisand treatment are encouraging, Cao says that further validations on large samples will be necessary.

Cao希望扩大工作的范围，包括其他精神疾病，如重度抑郁症和双向情感障碍。虽然精神分裂症诊断和治疗的初步效果令人鼓舞，但Cao说，有必要对大样本进行进一步的验证。

“It will be a joint effort of the patients, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, computer scientists and researchers in other disciplines to build better tools for precise mental health,” said Cao.

“这将是患者，精神科医生，神经科学家，计算机科学家和其他学科的研究人员的共同努力，为精确的心理健康建立更好的工具。”Cao说。

来源：University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

编辑：Evonne

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