title: Brain abnormalities in schizophrenia. A qualitative comparative study of schizophrenic patients and control individuals assessed by magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: The present study examined, by means of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the qualitative brain abnormalities in a group of 58 schizophrenic patients compared to a group of 58 matched control individuals. The possible relationships between these abnormalities and the demographic and clinical features of the participants in the study were also investigated. Schizophrenic patients presented a higher percentage of bland-moderate enlargement of the periencephalic-subarachnoid spaces (p=0.01) and a widespread cerebral atrophy, the latter below the threshold of significance (p=0.06). In the subset of patients with ventricular asymmetry (right larger than left) the age was significantly lower compared to the age of patients without this abnormality (p=0.04). In the subset of patients with cerebellar cisterns enlargement the age as well as the age of onset was higher in comparison to the one of patients without this abnormality (p=0.02; p=0.006). Taking together with previous studies, these findings underline the importance of qualitative assessment of brain morphology in research and clinical evaluation of patients with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: III Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Psychiatric Sciences and Psychological Medicine, University of Rome La Sapienza, Viale Dell' Universita 30, 00185, Rome, Italy. giuseppe.bersani@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bersani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quartini
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Piperopoulos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iannitelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paolemili
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pucci
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Biasi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gualdi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pancheri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000473:pathology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*