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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In a pair of male monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia, MRI revealed no abnormality in the ill proband, but extensive white-matter damage of likely congenital origin in the psychiatrically normal twin. These findings are difficult to reconcile with multifactorial models of schizophrenia, and raise the possibility that some forms of brain damage may preclude expression of the schizophrenia genotype.
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PMID:Can brain damage protect against schizophrenia? A case report of twins. 213 Nov 42

Schizophrenia is commonly regarded as a 'functional' psychosis, the implication being that the delusions, hallucinations and cognitive impairment characteristic of the disease have no organic basis. This view is due in no small way to the failure of pathologists to find convincing pathological changes associated with the disease in the first seven decades of the century. Over the last 10 years things have changed considerably. Recent CT and MRI scan studies have provided convincing evidence of significant ventricular enlargement in the brains of schizophrenics and post-mortem studies have shown that schizophrenic brains are about 6% lighter than controls and have a reduced volume and reduced antero-posterior length. Planimetric studies on post-mortem material and a recent MRI study show that medial temporal lobe structures (parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus and amygdala) are preferentially affected. Although other brain regions (e.g. cingulate gyrus, frontal cortex) also show alterations they appear to be 'downstream' from the regions primarily affected. Morphological studies show that there is a loss of neurons from medial temporal lobe structures and indicate irregularities in their cytoarchitectonic arrangement. The alterations in structure are not associated with degenerative, inflammatory, or abnormal vascular processes. There has been much debate as to the possible causes of the structural changes and whether they are limited to particular 'types' or sub-groups of schizophrenics. At present it seems simpler to suppose that all schizophrenics have a degree of structural abnormality which may differ in degree but not in kind. It has been proposed that the changes in brain structure in schizophrenia are the result of an anomaly of brain development. In the last year CT and MRI studies have shown that ventricular enlargement precedes clinical symptoms and is not progressive. These studies support the developmental interpretation. Future studies will need to focus on (a) the mechanisms (probably genetic) which can cause such developmental anomalies, (b) the neurochemical perturbations occurring as a result of such anomalies and (c) how both relate to clinical symptoms.
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PMID:Notes from the graveyard: neuropathology and schizophrenia. 218 32

Schizophrenia has been the subject of intensive neuropsychologic, neuroradiologic, neuropathologic, and neurochemical investigations. The most consistent and reproducible result from all this effort has been the demonstration of a mild degree of enlargement of the cerebral ventricles. The existence of this finding is no longer a subject of controversy, and it clearly occurs independently of psychiatric treatment and chronicity of disease. This finding represents the strongest evidence to date that a structural lesion of the central nervous system underlies schizophrenia. The localization of the lesion responsible for ventricular enlargement and for the clinical findings in schizophrenia is not as clear. Pathologic alterations in the anteriomedial temporal lobe, particularly in the hippocampus, have been independently identified by several groups, using both in vivo neuroimaging and postmortem anatomic techniques. The details and etiology of temporal lobe-hippocampal pathologic states remain to be elucidated. Neuropsychologic and cerebral blood flow studies suggest that the frontal lobe is dysfunctional in schizophrenics. However, there is little known about the neuropathologic basis and neurochemical correlates of this deficit. One of the intriguing new hypotheses about the neurologic findings in schizophrenia is that they are the result of an abnormality in the early development of the brain. The possibility that the clinical illness is a delayed manifestation of this process, perhaps because of an interaction between the early developmental deficit and later maturing functional neural systems, is a subject of speculation. While much study has been devoted to the structural and functional abnormalities underlying schizophrenia, much remains to be discovered. In the past 20 years, the development and application of new techniques, including CT, MRI, rCBF, and PET, have revolutionized the study of schizophrenia, and have produced the first consistent neuropathologic findings in this disorder. The pace of discovery has been gradually accelerating. Application of new techniques and careful use of patient selection criteria will help further decipher the neurologic basis of this disorder. There is reasonable hope that by the end of this century, the pathology and pathophysiology of this common but baffling illness will be revealed.
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PMID:The brain in schizophrenia. 225 6

The invention of the Anger scintillation camera and the development of 99mTc tracers brought about a tenfold increase in nuclear brain scanning between 1963 and 1973, an increase that plateaued with the introduction of x-ray computed tomography. A second growth curve began in 1976 at which time there were four PET centers in the United States, a number that grew to 60 worldwide over the next decade. PET, SPECT, MRI, and MRS are leading us into a new era of in vivo brain chemistry, based on regional bioenergetics and neurotransmission. The immediate impact is in epilepsy, stroke, brain tumors and the dementias, with psychiatric diseases becoming a major focus of research. Receptivity has become a biochemical as well as a psychological approach to mental functions. The finding of elevated D2 dopamine receptors in schizophrenia in living patients may be the forerunner of a new biochemical approach to psychiatry.
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PMID:Images of the brain: past as prologue. 302 64

CNS changes in a case of Usher's syndrome associated with schizophrenia-like mental disorder were observed by CT, MRI and PET. The neuro-radiological findings of the case demonstrate the degenerative and metabolic alterations in various regions of cortex, white matter and subcortical areas in the brain. Mental disorder of the case is almost indistinguishable from that of schizophrenia, but the psychotic feature is regarded as an atypical or mixed organic brain syndrome according to the classification in the third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III).
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PMID:CNS changes in Usher's syndrome with mental disorder: CT, MRI and PET findings. 326 68

The new technology of positron emission tomography (PET) offers hope in developing objective biological indices and correlates of various psychotic states, including schizophrenia. PET is of the order of a million to a billion times more sensitive than MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and is now successfully measuring the densities of various brain neurotransmitter receptors in health and disease. PET data in schizophrenia patients confirm that delusions and hallucinations are controlled by neuroleptics when the D2 dopamine receptors are specifically blocked. D1 receptors are not involved. The elevation of D2 receptors as a possible basis for psychotic symptoms needs additional investigation because of technical difficulties which need to be resolved. The rapid development of PET indicates its promise for differential diagnosis as well as its value in treating the psychoses.
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PMID:Psychosis and positron tomography. 328 23

Previous studies have demonstrated relationships between poor premorbid adjustment and a variety of phenomenological and neurobiological indices in schizophrenic patients. Using the Modified Premorbid Adjustment Scale we re-examined these relationships in a large sample (n = 131) of schizophrenic patients. Subjects were evaluated with the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History (CASH) and magnetic resonance imaging. Multiple correlation indicated that poor premorbid adjustment was significantly associated with prominence of negative symptoms, early age of onset, educational problems, chronicity, and neurological soft signs, but not with any MRI measures. These results confirm poor premorbid adjustment as an important predictor of a malignant form of schizophrenia as evidenced by an earlier age of onset, poorer educational performance, prominent negative symptoms, presence of soft signs, and chronicity of course.
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PMID:Premorbid adjustment as a predictor of phenomenological and neurobiological indices in schizophrenia. 748 64

The following is a case report of a patient with Sydenham's chorea who later developed schizophrenia. Autopsy examination of this patient revealed mineral deposits in the basal ganglia. The deposition of minerals, especially iron, within subcortical brain structures has been associated with dopaminergic abnormalities, schizophreniform symptoms, and abnormal movement disorders. The psychosis these patients experience is sometimes resistant to treatment with traditional neuroleptics. A CT or MRI scan may prove useful in screening those patients with Sydenham's chorea that develop psychotic symptoms.
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PMID:Sydenham's chorea and schizophrenia: a case report. 754 48

We report an MRI morphometric study of the posterior segment of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) in twenty young male schizophrenics and their individually matched normal controls. In particular the more posterior segment of STG was examined, since it has been identified as the approximate site of Wernicke's language area and is a marker for the planum temporale, a region believed to be abnormal in schizophrenia. Total volumes and grey and white matter volumes were measured in middle and posterior STG in each hemisphere. STG grey matter volumes and percentages were significantly reduced bilaterally in both regions in schizophrenic subjects. No significant differences between patients and controls were noted in STG white matter volumes. A significant correlation was detected between delusion scores in schizophrenics and the total volume of the left dominant posterior STG. Replicating the findings of a recent study (Shenton et al., 1992), we found an inverse correlation between thought disorder scores and grey matter reduction in the left posterior STG in schizophrenia.
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PMID:Posterior superior temporal gyrus in schizophrenia: grey matter changes and clinical correlates. 757 66

1. A sample of 165 schizophrenic subjects was compared to a normal control group in order to evaluate associations between white matter hyperintensity signals and vascular risk factors. 2. A comprehensive medical chart review was completed on all subjects evaluating potential vascular risk factors. Brain MRI acquisition was performed with 0.5 and 1.5 Telsa Philips scanners. 3. Prevalence rates of WMH signals in schizophrenic subjects and normal controls were 4.8% and 4.9%, respectively. 4. A significant association was found for schizophrenics with WHM signals to schizophrenics without signals for hypertension and history of CVA's. 5. This finding is consistent with an etiology of WMH signals in schizophrenia being related to vascular disease.
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PMID:White matter hyperintensity signals associated with vascular risk factors in schizophrenia. 770 30


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