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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2002) 181: s66-s72
© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Brain morphology in antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia: a study of multiple brain structures*

W. CAHN, MD, H. E. HULSHOFF POL, PhD, M. BONGERS, MS, H. G. SCHNACK, PhD, R. C. W. MANDL, MS, N. E. M. VAN HAREN, MS, S. DURSTON, MS, H. KONING, MS, J. A. VAN DER LINDEN, MD and R. S. KAHN, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Dr W. Cahn, Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 30 250 8180; fax: +31 30 250 5443; e-mail: w.cahn{at}azu.nl

Declaration of interest None.

* Presented in part at the European First Episode Schizophrenia Network Meeting, Whistler BC, Canada, 27 April 2001.

Background Although brain volume changes are found in schizophrenia, only a limited number of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies have exclusively examined antipsychotic-naïve patients.

Aims To comprehensively investigate multiple brain structures in a single sample of patients who were antipsychotic-naïve.

Method Twenty antipsychotic-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 20 healthy comparison subjects were included. Intracranial, total brain, frontal lobe, grey and white matter, cerebellar, hippocampal, parahippocampal, thalamic, caudate nucleus and lateral and third ventricular volumes were measured. Repeated-measures analyses of (co)variance were conducted with intracranial volume as covariate.

Results Third ventricle volume enlargement was found in patients compared with the healthy subjects. No differences were found in other brain regions.

Conclusions These findings suggest that some brain abnormalities are present in the early stages of schizophrenia. Moreover, it suggests that brain abnormalities reported in patients with chronic schizophrenia develop in a later stage of the disease and/or are medication induced.




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The British Journal of Psychiatry, September 1, 2002; 181 (43): s1 - s2.
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