CONFIRMATION OF REDUCED TEMPORAL LIMBIC STRUCTURE VOLUME ON MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN MALE-PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

A structural deficit in the temporal lobes has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. A prospective magnetic resonance imagin g (MRI) study was carried out in 20 young male patients with schizophr enia and 20 age-matched healthy male volunteers. Volumetric measuremen ts were performed in all slices with temporal lobe cross-sections from the temporal pole to the tip of the Sylvian fissure. Volumetric asses sment included the temporal lobe as a whole, hippocampal formation and amygdala complex, temporal horn and cella media of the lateral ventri cle, the third ventricle, and hemispheric volume in all slices that sh owed temporolimbic structures. Brain structural deficit in the patient s was most conspicuous in the posterior portion of the hippocampal for mation. Significant effects of diagnosis were also found for the total temporal lobe and the third ventricle. Multiple regression analysis r evealed posterior hippocampal volume to be significantly determined by diagnosis, but not by age or by temporal lobe or hemispheric volume. Significant correlations of morphologic and clinical parameters were r estricted to negative correlations of temporal lobe volume with the gl obal rating and sum score of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. The study confirms subtle temporolimbic deficit reported in previous MRI studies in patients with schizophrenia.