title: Superior temporal gyrus volume abnormalities and thought disorder in left-handed schizophrenic men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies of schizophrenia have not clearly defined handedness as a differentiating variable. Moreover, the relationship between thought disorder and anatomical anomalies has not been studied extensively in left-handed schizophrenic men. The twofold purpose of this study was to investigate gray matter volumes in the superior temporal gyrus of the temporal lobe (left and right hemispheres) in left-handed schizophrenic men and left-handed comparison men, in order to determine whether thought disorder in the left-handed schizophrenic men correlated with tissue volume abnormalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Left-handed male patients (N = 8) with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia were compared with left-handed comparison men (N = 10) matched for age, socioeconomic status, and IQ. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a 1.5-T magnet was used to obtain scans, which consisted of contiguous 1.5-mm slices of the whole brain. MRI analyses (as previously defined by the authors) included the anterior, posterior, and total superior temporal gyrus in both the left and right hemispheres.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were three significant findings regarding the left-handed schizophrenic men: 1) bilaterally smaller gray matter volumes in the posterior superior temporal gyrus (16% smaller on the right, 15% smaller on the left); 2) a smaller volume on the right side of the total superior temporal gyrus; and 3) a positive correlation between thought disorder and tissue volume in the right anterior superior temporal gyrus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that expression of brain pathology differs between left-handed and right-handed schizophrenic men and that the pathology is related to cognitive disturbance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. dorothy_holinger@caregroup.harvard.edu
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Holinger
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Shenton
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Wible
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Donnino
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kikinis
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Jolesz
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McCarley
mesh_terms: D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology