title: Anterior and posterior hippocampal volumes in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While the evidence for hippocampal structural abnormalities in schizophrenia is now well accepted, whether there is differentially greater volume loss within specific subregions of the hippocampus remains a matter of some debate. Here we present volume estimates of anterior and posterior hippocampal volumes using a novel morphometric protocol.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 25 male patients with schizophrenia and 25 age-matched male control subjects. Hippocampal volumes were estimated using a three-dimensional morphometric protocol for the analysis of high-resolution structural magnetic resonance images (MRI). Anterior hippocampal volumes were differentiated from posterior hippocampal volumes by the presence of the uncus in coronal slices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While the patients with schizophrenia had significantly smaller overall hippocampal volumes relative to the control group, there was no evidence for a topographically specific pattern of volume loss along the anterior-posterior hippocampal axis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirm the presence of overall hippocampal volume decreases in patients with schizophrenia, but do not confirm a topographically specific localization of this effect. It appears that the hippocampal volume deficit in schizophrenia is diffuse, a finding that has important consequences for understanding the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. aweiss@partners.org
authors.forename: Anthony P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dewitt
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goff
authors.forename: Tali
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ditman
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heckers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000002:abnormalities*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index