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Caudate nucleus morphology in tardive dyskinesia
K W Brown1, T White, J M Wardlaw
1Central Scotland Healthcare Trust, Bellsdyke Hospital, Larbert.
Objective:
The objective of this project was to test whether there are differences in the size of the caudate nucleus in schizophrenic in-patients with and without tardive dyskinesia.
Method:
The study was cross-sectional in design, examining group differences between institutionalised schizophrenic patients with and without tardive dyskinesia, using non-enhanced computerised tomography scans of the brain. The group comprised 15 schizophrenic patients with persistent tardive dyskinesia and 21 in-patient schizophrenic controls who were group-matched for demographic variables.
Results:
The dyskinetic subjects had a significantly larger left caudate nucleus and tended to have a larger right caudate nucleus than the controls. There were no differences between the groups on any of the measures of cerebral atrophy.
Conclusions:
The findings can be understood within the context of models of neostriatal function. It is possible that a larger caudate nucleus could be used to identify patients at risk of developing tardive dyskinesia.