Midsagittal cortical pathomorphology of schizophrenia: a magnetic resonance imaging study

Forty schizophrenic patients and 17 normal controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. All subjects were consenting males under 50 years old. Enlargement of the septum pellucidum in schizophrenics was confirmed. This finding was significantly related to a family history of the disorder. Although this study could not confirm a decreased frontal:brain ratio (FBR) in schizophrenics as reported by Andreasen et al. (1986), a negative correlation between FBR and negative symptoms was seen. No significant differences in other cerebral substructures, cerebellar vermis, or fourth ventricle of the midsaggital cut were seen between schizophrenics and normal controls. However, it is of interest that a small cerebellar vermis:brain ratio was associated with good therapeutic response to neuroleptics in schizophrenics. All these findings suggest that combining morphological changes in the brain as illustrated by MRI with clinical variables may provide a useful new approach to the subclassification of schizophrenia.