Enlargement of the fornix in early-onset schizophrenia: a quantitative MRIstudy

Abnormalities of temporal lobe structure and frontal lobe function occur in schizophrenia. There have been few studies of you ng people with schizophr enia and little is known about temporo-frontal connectivity in the disease. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the body of the fornix was measured on MR images from 17 young people with schizophrenia, nine with other seri ous psychiatric illnesses and eight without illness. The mean age of each g roup was 16-17 years. The mean cross-sectional fornix area in subjects with schizophrenia was significantly larger than that in subjects without illne ss (approximate to 40%) and psychiatric controls approximate to 26%). There was no such significant difference between subjects without illness and ps ychiatric controls. The nature of the larger fornix in early-onset schizoph renia, whether it persists and whether it occurs in schizophrenia presentin g in adulthood, remain to be elucidated. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.