Ten year progressive ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia: An MRI morphometrical study

Recent studies of the brain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have sug gested progressive structural changes in schizophrenics. However, those stu dies were conducted over periods of less than 5 years and thus lacked suffi cient capacity to determine the course and nature of this process. In this study, MRI scans were obtained in 15 schizophrenics and 12 controls at base line and after 4- and 10-year follow ups. Volumes of the lateral ventricles were measured. Patients were assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scal e (BPRS) at the same two time points: at baseline and at 10-year follow up. After 10 years, a significant lateral ventricular enlargement was found in patients (mean percentage change: +22.9%) but not in controls (5.1%). Alth ough our results are not in disagreement with the neurodevelopmental hypoth esis, they do provide strong evidence that in schizophrenia progressive bra in reduction occurs even in its chronic stage.