Absence and size of massa intermedia in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the absence and size of massa intermedia (MI), a midline thalamic structure, and its gender-specific alteration in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.


METHODS
Thirty-five patients with schizophrenia (17 females and 18 males), 21 patients with bipolar disorder (15 females and 6 males) and 89 healthy controls (50 females and 39 males) were evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging. Thin-slice magnetic resonance images of the brain were evaluated. MI was determined in coronal and sagittal images, and area of the MI was measured on the sagittal plane.


RESULTS
Females had a significantly lower incidence of absent MI compared with males in the healthy control group. The absence of MI in schizophrenia and bipolar patients was not higher than the incidence in healthy controls. The size of MI showed a gender difference. The mean MI area size was smaller in female schizophrenia patients than in female controls, while no significant difference was observed between male schizophrenia patients and their controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The size of MI, a gender difference midline structure, is smaller in females with schizophrenia, and the results of this study support other studies of structural aberration of the thalamus and other midline structures in the brains of patients with schizophrenia.
1Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey.
Meltem
M
Ceyhan
2Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey.
Baki
B
Adapınar
3Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey.
Gokay
G
Aksaray
3Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey.
Figen
F
Ozdemir
4Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey.
Ertugrul
E
Colak