The current study assessed whether neuromelanin sensitive MRI (NM-MRI) is a potential biomarker for treatment resistance (TR) in first episode schizophrenia patients. NM-MRI is a novel MRI sequence, which indirectly measures dopamine synthesis. Twenty-three first episodes schizophrenia patients underwent a NM-MRI scan, treatment response was determined during follow-up. Standardized and manual segmentation protocols of the NM-MRI data were used and compared. Both segmentation protocols showed significantly lower NM-MRI signal in TR compared to responders. These findings demonstrate the potential of NM-MRI as biomarker. The predictive value of NM-MRI for TR and optimal segmentation method still require further investigation
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