Thalamus size and outcome in schizophrenia.
The size of the thalamus was assessed in 106 patients with schizophrenia and 42 normal controls using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. The thalamus was traced at five axial levels proportionately spaced from dorsal to ventral directions. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly smaller thalamic areas at more ventral levels. Thalamic size was positively associated with frontal lobe and temporal lobe size. The effects were most marked in the patients with poorer clinical outcome (i.e., "Kraepelinian" patients). These findings are consistent with post-mortem and MRI measurement suggesting reduction in volume of the pulvinar, which occupies a large proportion of the ventral thalamus and which has prominent connections to the temporal lobe.
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. adam.brickman@mssm.edu
Adam M
AM
Brickman
Monte S
MS
Buchsbaum
Lina
L
Shihabuddin
William
W
Byne
Randall E
RE
Newmark
Jesse
J
Brand
Shabeer
S
Ahmed
Serge A
SA
Mitelman
Erin A
EA
Hazlett
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000503:physiopathology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000503:physiopathology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000503:physiopathology