Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-25T02:49:14.319Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brain morphometric comparison of first-episode schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

W. B. Barr ,
M. Ashtari ,
R. M. Bilder ,
G. Degreef  and
J. A. Lieberman
W. B. Barr*
Affiliation:
Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Glen Oaks, New York, US
M. Ashtari
Affiliation:
Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Glen Oaks, New York, US
R. M. Bilder
Affiliation:
Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Glen Oaks, New York, US
G. Degreef
Affiliation:
Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Glen Oaks, New York, US
J. A. Lieberman
Affiliation:
Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Glen Oaks, New York, US
*
Dr William B. Barr, Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, PO Box 38, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA. Fax: (718) 343 1659
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Converging evidence has suggested that the abnormalities in brain morphology observed in schizophrenia are similar to those seen in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The purpose ofthis study was to compare the features of these groups directly with measures of the brain using magnetic resonance (MR) morphometry.

Method

Morphometric measures of ventricular and hippocampal volumes obtained from FLASH MR images were studied in 32 patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES), 39 patients withTLE (21 left, 18 right), and 42 healthy controls.

Results

Ventricular volumes in the FES and TLE groups were both significantly larger than those seen in controls and did not differ from each other. The FES group showed significantly larger temporal horns, while theTLE group had relatively larger frontal horns. Analyses of hippocampal volumes revealed a significant group by hemisphere effect. The FES group showed relative reductions in left hippocampal volume that were comparable only toTLE patients with seizures originating from the left hemisphere.

Conclusion

The results indicate that FES and TLE groups both show evidence of ventricular enlargement. Lateralised morphological abnormalities of the hippocampal formation in FES and left TLE are comparable, and may be specific to temporolimbic regions.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 170 , Issue 6 , June 1997 , pp. 515 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashtari, M., Zito, J. L., Gold, B. I., et al (1990) Computer-ized volume measurement of brain structure. Investigative Radiology, 25, 798–805.Google Scholar
Ashtari, M., Zito, J. L., Gold, B. I., Barr, W. B., Schaul, N., et al (1991) Three dimensional fast low-angle shot imaging and computerized volume measurement of the hippocampus in patients with chronic epilepsy of the temporal lobe. American Journal of Neuro-radiology, 12, 941–947.Google Scholar
Babb, T. L. A Brown, W. J. (1987) Pathological findings in epilepsy. In Surgical Treatment of the Epilepsies (ed. Engel, J. P.), pp. 511–540. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Bilder, R. M. & Degreef, G. (1991) Morphologic markers of neurodevelopmental paths to schizophrenia. In Developmental Neuropathology of Schizophrenia (eds Mednick, S. A., Cannon, T. D., Barr, C. E., et al), pp. 167–190. New York: Plenum Press Google Scholar
Bogerts, B., Ashtari, M., Degreef, G., et al (1990) Reduced temporal limbic structure volumes on magnetic resonance images in first-episode schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 35, 1–13.Google Scholar
Bruton, C. J., Stevens, J. R. & Frith, C. D. (1994) Epilepsy, psychosis and schizophrenia: clinical and neuropathology correlations. Neurology, 44, 34–42.Google ScholarPubMed
Childe, A. E. & Penfleld, W. (1937) Anatomic and Pneumo-graphie studies of the temporal horn. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 37, 1021–1034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chua, S. E. & Mckenna, P. J. (1995) Schizophrenia - a brain disease? A critical review of structural and cerebral abnorm-ality in the disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 563–582.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J., Ball, J., Bloom, S. R., et al (1989) Schizophrenia as an anomaly of development of cerebral asymmetry. Archives of General Psychiatry, 460, 1145–1150.Google Scholar
Degreef, G., Ashtari, M., Bogerts, B., et al (1992) Volumes of ventricular system subdivisions measured from magnetic resonance images in first-episode schizophrenic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 531–537.Google Scholar
DeLisi, L. E., Hoff, A. L., Schwartz, J. E., et al (1991) Brain morphology in first-episode schizophrenic-like psychotic patients: a quantitative magnetic resonance imaging study. Biological Psychiatry, 29, 159–175.Google Scholar
Endicott, J. A Spitzer, R. L. (1978) Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 837–844.Google Scholar
Flor-Henry, P. (1969) Psychosis and temporal lobe epilepsy: a controlled investigation. Epilepsia, 10, 363–395.Google Scholar
Lieberman, J., Bogerts, B., Degreef, G., et al (1992) Qualitative assessment of brain morphology in acute and chronic schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 784–794.Google ScholarPubMed
Mednick, S. A., Machon, R. A., Huttunen, M. O., et al (1988) Adult schizophrenia following prenatal exposure to an influenza epidemic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 189–192.Google Scholar
Oldfield, R. C. (1971) The assessment and analysis of hand-edness: the Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologic, 9, 97–113.Google Scholar
O'Rahilly, R. A Muller, F. (1990) Ventricular system and choroid plexuses of the human brain during the embryonic period proper. American Journal of Anatomy, 189, 285–302.Google Scholar
Pearison, G. D., Kim, W S., Kubos, K. L., et al (1989) Ventricle-brain ratio, computed tomographic density, and brain area in 50 schizophrenics. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 690–697.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. W., Done, D. J., Bruton, C., et al (1990) A “mock up” of schizophrenia: temporal lobe epilepsy and schizophrenia-like psychosis. Biological Psychiatry, 28, 127–143.Google Scholar
Scheibel, A. B. (1991) Are complex partial seizures a sequela of temporal lobe dysgenesis? In Advances in Neurology (vol. 55) (eds Smith, D., Treiman, D. & Trimble, M.), pp. 59–77. New York: Raven Press Google Scholar
Slater, E. (1969) The schizophrenia-like illnesses of epilepsy. In Current Problems in Neuropsychiatry: Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, and the Temporal Lobe (ed. Herrington, R. N.). pp. 77–81. Ashford. Kent: Headley Brothers Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. A Robins, E. (1977) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for a Selected Group of Functional Disorders. New York: New York Biometrics Research Division.Google Scholar
Ikylor, D. C. (1975) Factors influencing the occurrence of schizophrenia-like psychosis in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Psychological Medicine, 5, 249–254.Google Scholar
Toone, B. K., Dawson, J. A Driver, M. V. (1982) Psychoses of epilepsy: a radiological evaluation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 244–248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ttenerry, M., Jack, C. R., Sharborough, F. W., et al (1993) Quantitative MRI hippocampal volumes: association with onset and duration of epilepsy, and febrile convulsions in temporal lobectomy patients. Epilepsy Research, 15, 247–252.Google Scholar
Trimble, M. R. (1991) The Psychosis of Epilepsy. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Umbricht, D., Degreef, G., Barr, W. B., et al (1995) Postictal and chronic psychoses in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 224–231.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.