Increased frequency of aberrant CSF circulation in schizophrenic patients compared to healthy volunteers

In a previous cisternographic study of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation in schizophrenic patients, indications for disturbed flow dynamics were found in 10 of 30 subjects. In order to replicate and investigate the clinical and pathophysiological significance of this finding, 39 schizophrenic patients and 42 healthy subjects were examined with an improved method for measurement of CSF circulation. (99m)Tc-DTPA was injected intrathecally and the gamma cisternograms were evaluated blindly. Correlations between cisternography findings and age, duration of disease, previous hospitalizations, positive or negative symptomatology, exposure to neuroleptics, psychiatric family history, CT findings and CSF levels of protein, tryptophan and monoamine metabolites, were calculated. Seven of the patients showed abnormalities in the cisternograms with a slow or obstructed flow of CSF over the convexities (P < 0.01) whereas none of the healthy volunteers showed abnormalities. There were no correlations between disturbed CSF circulation in the patients and the clinical and biochemical parameters, thus the significance of the deviations, similar to other biological aberrations found in schizophrenic patients, is not known. Recent developments in magnetic resonance imaging offer new possibilities to further examine CSF circulation abnormalities in schizophrenia.