Brain imaging in childhood- and adolescence-onset schizophrenia associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
OBJECTIVE
Childhood- and adolescence-onset schizophrenic patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) constitute a specific subgroup of schizophrenia. We performed magnetic resonance imaging in this group seeking evidence of neurodevelopmental insults.


METHODS
Thirty-two schizophrenic patients were compared with 19 controls. Schizophrenic subjects were divided into 15 patients with OCS (SOCS+ group; onset at 15.5 +/- 1.6 years) and 17 without OCS (SOCS- group; onset at 15.3 +/- 1.3 years). Areas of the hippocampus, frontal lobe, corpus callosum and putamen were analysed morphometrically.


RESULTS
The left hippocampus was significantly smaller in the SOCS+ group than in the SOCS- and control groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Reduced size of the left hippocampus in the SOCS+ group supports a neurodevelopmental etiology in this subgroup.
Aoyama
F
F
Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Japan.
Iida
J
J
Inoue
M
M
Iwasaka
H
H
Sakiyama
S
S
Hata
K
K
Kishimoto
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011699:Putamen / Q000473:pathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012561:Schizophrenia, Childhood / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*