Prevalence of cavum septum pellucidum in schizophrenia studied with MRI

Objective: To study the prevalence of cavum septum pellucidum (CSP), a midl ine developmental anomaly, in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Three-m illimeter coronal T1 weighted MRI images of 43 normal controls and 73 patie nts with schizophrenia were examined. The images were resampled into I-mm s lices and CSP was measured by the number of slices in which it appeared. Re sults: Patients had significantly higher incidence of CSP (Fisher's exact t est 0.042; one-sided). Eighteen (41.9%) of the controls and 44 (60.3%) of p atients had a CSP, and one of 46 controls and three of 73 patients had a la rge CSP of six slices or more. There was no relationship between the presen ce or size of CSP and regional brain volumes or volumes of hippocampus-amyg dala complex, caudate, superior temporal gyrus or ventricular CSF. Conclusi on: Higher incidence of CSP may reflect a neurodevelopmental disturbance in schizophrenia. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.