The Bipolar Lithium Imaging and Spectroscopy Study (BLISS) is in its final year of recruitment! We would like to thank the clinicians and participants who have contributed so far to this exciting research.
BLISS has led to the development of a new MRI technique that directly measures the distribution of lithium in the brain (7Li-MRI). It has shown that lithium is unevenly distributed and we think that the pattern of distribution relates to the likelihood of response. Further, lithium is known to improve white matter integrity and we have recently shown that this effect is most marked in areas of the brain with the greatest lithium concentration. In effect, we can now co-localise tissue level effects and drug concentration non-invasively.
These exciting results move us closer to our goal of personalised medicine for bipolar disorder. However, we need to build a large and representative cohort to best interpret the findings. If you know of anyone who would be interested in taking part in BLISS, please get in touch. You can find out about the recruitment process, our exciting collaborations and outcomes at our website Team Lithium or by contacting the study team directly [email protected]