Brain imaging in childhood- and adolescence-onset schizophrenia associatedwith obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Objective: Childhood- and adolescence-onset schizophrenic patients with obs essive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) constitute a specific subgroup of schizoph renia. We performed magnetic resonance imaging in this group seeking eviden ce of neurodevelopmental insults. Method: Thirty-two schizophrenic patients were compared with 19 controls. S chizophrenic subjects were divided into 15 patients with OCS (SOCS+ group; onset at 15.5 +/- 1.6 years) and 17 without OCS (SOCS- group; onset at 15.3 +/- 1.3 years). Areas of the hippocampus, frontal lobe, corpus callosum an d putamen were analysed morphometrically. Results: The left hippocampus was significantly smaller in the SOCS+ group than in the SOCS- and control groups. Conclusion: Reduced size of the left hippocampus in the SOCS+ group support s a neurodevelopmental etiology in this subgroup.