Lateral cerebral ventricular enlargement in chronic schizophrenia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Radiology

Background:

• Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder.
• Cerebral ventricular size has been investigated as a potential biomarker.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if cerebral ventricular enlargement is associated with chronic schizophrenia.
• To explore if treatments influence ventricular size.

Main Methods:

• Computerized tomography (CT) scans were used to measure ventricular size.
• 73 psychiatric patients (58 with chronic schizophrenia) were compared to 56 asymptomatic volunteers.

Main Results:

• Chronic schizophrenic patients showed significantly larger ventricles than controls.
• 40% of chronic schizophrenic patients had ventricular sizes outside the control range.
• Ventricular size did not correlate with illness duration or hospitalization length.
• Enlarged ventricles were observed even in patients never treated with electroshock therapy (EST).

Conclusions:

• Lateral cerebral ventricular enlargement is associated with chronic schizophrenia.
• This enlargement is likely an intrinsic feature of the disorder, not a treatment side effect.