MRI investigation of temporal lobe structures in bipolar patients

Previous anatomical MRI studies have suggested abnormalities in amygdala volumes in bipolar disorder, whereas hippocampus, temporal lobe (TL), and superior temporal gyri (STG) measures have been reported to be normal. This study further investigated the existence of anatomical abnormalities in these brain structures in bipolar subjects, to attempt to replicate previously reported findings. Twenty-four DSM-IV bipolar patients (mean age+/-S.D.=35+/-10 years) and 36 healthy controls (mean age+/-S.D.=37+/-10 years) were studied. 3D SPGR images were obtained with a 1.5T-GE Signa magnet (TR=25 ms, TE=5 ms, FOV=24 cm, slice-thickness=1.5 mm, matrix-size=256 x 192). Volumetric measurements of TL, hippocampus, amygdala, and STG were performed blindly, with a semi-automated software. Bipolar patients had significantly larger left amygdala volumes compared with controls (mean volumes+/-S.D.=2.57+/-0.69 vs. 2.17+/-0.58 ml, respectively; ANCOVA, age, gender, ICV as covariates; F=4.42, df=1/55, P=0.04). The volumes of the other temporal lobe structures did not differ significantly between the two groups (ANCOVA, age, gender, and ICV as covariates, P>0.05). Our findings of enlarged left amygdala in bipolar patients are in agreement with prior MRI studies, suggesting that abnormalities in this brain structure may be implicated in pathophysiology of the illness. Longitudinal studies in high-risk offspring and first-episode patients will be needed to examine whether such abnormalities precede the appearance of symptoms, or whether they may appear subsequently as a result of illness course.     

An MRI study of the superior temporal subregions in patients with current and past major depression

The superior temporal gyrus (STG), especially its lateral portion, and temporal pole (TP) both play a central role in emotional processing, but it remains largely unknown whether patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit morphologic changes in these regions. We delineated the STG subregions [planum polare (PP), Heschl gyrus (HG), planum temporale (PT), rostral STG, and caudal STG] and TP using magnetic resonance imaging in 29 currently depressed patients (mean age = 32.5 years, 7 males), 27 remitted depressed patients (mean age = 35.1 years, 9 males), and 33 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects (mean age = 34.0 years, 12 males). Both current and remitted MDD patients showed a significant volume reduction of the left PT and bilateral caudal STG as compared with healthy controls. The TP volume did not differ between the groups. The right PT volume was negatively correlated with total score on the Beck Depression Inventory in the MDD patients as a whole. Medication, presence of melancholia, and comorbidity with anxiety disorders did not affect the TP and STG volumes. These findings suggest that the volume reduction of the STG, but not the TP, may represent enduring brain changes in MDD even after recovery from depression, but right STG volume may also be related to the severity of depressive symptoms.     

Superior temporal gyrus and P300 in schizophrenia: a combined ERP/structural magnetic resonance imaging investigation

Decrement of the auditory P300 component of the event-related potentials (ERP) is a robust finding in schizophrenic patients and seems to be most pronounced in the left temporal region. Structural MRI studies support the hypothesis that regional structural brain differences in this patient group include reduced volume in temporal lobe structures. The aim of the presented study was to investigate the possible gray matter volume reductions in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the P300 reduction and left 相似文献   

Morphology of the lateral superior temporal gyrus in neuroleptic nai;ve patients with schizophrenia: relationship to symptoms

Objective: The superior temporal gyrus (STG) is a large structure in the temporal lobe with multiple sub-regions that are structurally and functionally distinct. This study evaluates the structural morphology of a specific sub-region of the STG, the anterior and posterior portions of the lateral aspect of the STG. Furthermore, relationships between the morphology of these regions and symptoms of the illness were explored. Method: Regions of cortex were consecutively traced on a set of serial coronal slices in 25 male neuroleptic naïve patients with first episode schizophrenia and 25 age-matched healthy volunteers. Regional gray matter volumes were calculated and compared, and their correlations with three symptom dimensions were explored. Results: The left anterior STG had a significant inverse correlation with psychotic symptoms, whereas the right posterior STG had a significant positive correlation with negative symptoms. These findings were confirmed by a follow-up analysis using extreme groups. There was no significant correlation between any region and disorganized symptoms. Conclusions: These findings suggest that abnormalities in the lateral side of the STG may be associated with both psychotic and negative symptoms through different pathophysiological mechanisms.     

Follow-up and family study of postpartum psychoses Part I: Overview

A group of 119 patients suffering from a severe psychiatric postpartum disorder who were admitted for the first time in their life to a psychiatric hospital has been investigated. The onset of illness occurred within 3 months following delivery. The patients represented 92% of the total sample fulfilling the inclusion criteria. A follow-up investigation was performed after a mean of 21 years (range 2–35 years). Of the patients 66% had nonpuerperal psychotic episodes in later life. The diagnosis, taking into account the long-term course, was affective psychosis in 57%, schizoaffective psychosis in 18%, schizophreniform psychosis in 12%, brief reactive psychosis in 4% and schizophrenia in 9%. A bipolar psychosis was found in 31%. The relation of unipolar to bipolar psychoses corresponded to that in a control group of affectively ill women without puerperal onset. The frequency of a manic syndrome in bipolar psychoses at the index episode was the same as in nonpuerperal episodes, which does not suggest a mania-provoking pathoplastic effect of the puerperium. The comparison with female nonpuerperal controls matched for age and diagnosis revealed evidence of a better long-term course in the index patients. The risk of a puerperal relapse for further pregnancies was 35%. The global morbidity risk for functional psychoses in first-degree relatives was 11%, with affective psychoses representing the majority of secondary cases (6.8%). The index patients showed a nonsignificant lower-morbidity risk in relatives than a control group of psychotically ill women without puerperal onset. The major aetiological factor found for postpartum psychoses is the relation of these disorders to functional psychoses. There is strong evidence that the postpartum period tends to provoke affective psychoses and other nonschizophrenic psychoses, but not, or only to a lesser degree, narrowly defined schizophrenias. The liability to puerperal decompensations suggests some common pathophysiological mechanism, the nature of which remains unknown.     

精神分裂症患者脑结构异常的MRI研究

目的　探讨脑结构的改变 (尤其是第Ⅲ脑室 )特点及其与精神分裂症症状产生及疗效的关系。方法　选用我院住院的首发精神分裂症患者 ,共 51例 ,正常对照组为 2 3例健康志愿者。对入组后的患者于治疗前和治疗后 2个月进行PANSS(阳性与阴性症状量表 )评定 ,以PANSS减分率作为疗效指标。磁共振成像扫描采用SiemensMagnetomP8型永磁性磁共振机 ,磁场强度 0 2T。测量包括第Ⅲ脑室横径等在内的 1 7条径线。结果　病例组第Ⅲ脑室横径、双侧外侧裂宽度明显增宽 ,胼胝体厚度明显减少 ,病例组与对照组之间存在显著差异。PANSS阴性分量表、思维解体因子减分率与左侧海马横径均呈负相关。PANSS其他分量表及因子减分率与MRI各参数均无显著相关。结论　精神分裂症患者存在的脑结构异常可能构成了精神分裂症的神经生物学基础。脑结构异常与疗效的关系有待进一步研究     

A deficit in discriminating gaze direction in a case with right superior temporal gyrus lesion

The superior temporal sulcus (STS) region is well recognized as being heavily involved in detecting and discriminating gaze. Lesions confined to this area are quite rare in humans, and so the research has mainly depended on animal studies and functional neuroimaging in normal human subjects. We report one such rare case, a 54-year-old Japanese female with a possible congenital s anomaly who, after a cerebral hemorrhage, demonstrated a lesion almost completely confined to the entire right superior temporal gyrus (STG). In the subacute phase, the patient showed evidence of left hemispatial neglect, from which she gradually recovered. In the chronic phase, she showed a puzzling difficulty in obtaining eye-contact. We have conducted, in conjunction with conventional neuropsychological evaluations, experimental assessment of her ability in gaze cognition. Her performance on neuropsychological testing demonstrated no compromise in intellect, memory, or language skills, and a close-to-full recovery from neglect. On gaze cognition experiments, she was repeatedly shown to perceive left gaze as straight, and to a lesser degree, straight gaze as right. We suggest that the function of the STG in detecting gaze, together with the directional information it receives from earlier visual areas, may be associated, when damaged, with this deficit in detecting contra-directional gaze. We have demonstrated for the first time that a single circumscribed lesion to the STG results in both gaze processing deficit and concurrent aberrant gaze behavior of the victim herself, implicating a mechanism within the STG as an interface between gaze of others and gaze of self.     

A family study of psychotic symptomatology in schizophrenia,schizoaffective disorder,unipolar depression,and bipolar disorder

Summary An evaluation was made of schizophrenics (140), schizoaffectives (40), unipolar depressives (59), and bipolars (30), and their relatives who had a chart diagnosis of psychosis or depressive neurosis. The purpose was to determine whether the psychosis (delusions and hallucinations) was transmitted independently of the illness itself. If this were true, there would be an excess of pairs of probands and relatives both positive for psychosis and pairs of relatives and probands both negative for psychosis when compared to relatives and probands who were not concordant for the variable. This was found to be true in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and is probably the result of the simple transmission of an illness which includes the presence of psychotic symptoms in the definition. Thus, this would be a manifestation of the genetic propensity in schizophrenia. For the affective disorders there was no evidence that psychotic probands were more likely than the nonpsychotic to have psychotic relatives. So far the reason why some patients have psychosis and others not in the affective disorders remains unexplained.     

Genetic underpinnings of left superior temporal gyrus thickness in patients with schizophrenia

Objectives. Schizophrenia is a highly disabling psychiatric disorder with a heterogeneous phenotypic appearance. We aimed to further the understanding of some of the underlying genetics of schizophrenia, using left superior temporal gyrus (STG) grey matter thickness reduction as an endophenoptype in a genome-wide association (GWA) study. Methods. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and genetic data of the Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium (MCIC) study of schizophrenia were used to analyse the interaction effects between 1,067,955 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and disease status on left STG thickness in 126 healthy controls and 113 patients with schizophrenia. We next used a pathway approach to detect underlying pathophysiological pathways that may be related to schizophrenia. Results. No SNP by diagnosis interaction effect reached genome-wide significance (5 × 10^–8) in our GWA study, but 10 SNPs reached P-values less than 10^–6. The most prominent pathways included those involved in insulin, calcium, PI3K-Akt and MAPK signalling. Conclusions. Our strongest findings in the GWA study and pathway analysis point towards an involvement of glucose metabolism in left STG thickness reduction in patients with schizophrenia only. These results are in line with recently published studies, which showed an increased prevalence of psychosis among patients with metabolic syndrome-related illnesses including diabetes.     

The reliability of DSM-III prodromal symptoms in first-episode psychotic patients

Thirty-one first-episode psychotic patients were assessed via a semistructured interview to determine the presence or absence of the 8 DSM-III prodromal symptoms. Interrater reliability data were calculated for the same symptoms according to the patient, an informant and the raters blending the previous 2 sources of information. Levels of reliability, reported as kappa and percentage agreements, were generally acceptable.     

Insular cortex morphometry in first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum patients: Diagnostic specificity and clinical correlations

Evidence so far indicates that the consistent association between insular cortex abnormalities and schizophrenia is already present at early phases of the illness. In the present investigation we aimed to study the specificity of insular structural abnormalities in schizophrenia by using region-of-interest morphometry to assess insular cortex morphological characteristics in the same heterogeneous sample of schizophrenia-spectrum patients. The 225 subjects, comprising 82 schizophrenia patients, 36 schizophreniform disorder patients and 24 patients with nonschizophrenic non-affective psychoses, and 83 healthy individuals were investigated. Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans (1.5 T) were obtained and images analysed to evaluate insular cortex morphometric variables. The main resulting measurements were for insular gray matter volume and cortical surface area. The contribution of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics was controlled. Patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders did not significantly differ from controls in the insular cortex morphometric variables evaluated (all P’s > 0.11). Clinical variables were not significantly related with insular morphological changes. Noteworthy is the fact that none of the group morphological measurements varied significantly by gender or hemisphere. Neither did we find significant differences when patients with schizophrenia and with other non-affective psychoses were compared. Contrary to our initial hypotheses, we were unable to demonstrate significant morphometric anomalies in a large and heterogeneous sample of patients with a first-episode of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.     

奥卡西平辅助治疗精神分裂症及分裂样精神病兴奋躁动的比较研究

目的评估奥卡西平治疗兴奋躁动精神分裂症、分裂样精神病辅助疗效和安全性。方法将符合中国精神障碍分类与诊断标准第3版中精神分裂症、分裂样精神病诊断标准,并以兴奋躁动为主要表现的80例患者随机分为研究组(n=39)和对照组(n=41),研究组应用抗精神病药物(氯氮平、奥氮平、利培酮、喹硫平、阿立哌唑或齐拉西酮其中之一)联合奥卡西平,对照组单一使用抗精神病药物,观察6周。采用简明精神病量表(BPRS)和阳性和阴性综合征量表(PANSS)兴奋因子,不良反应量表(TESS)在治疗前及治疗后第1,2,4,6周分别评估疗效和安全性。结果治疗6周后,研究组有效28例(71.8%),对照组有效26例(65.0%),2组有效率差异有统计学意义(χ2=6.02,P=0.028)。研究组与对照组患者分别脱落2例和4例。研究组的主要不良反应为镇静(11例)、便秘(10例)、头晕(7例)、心动过速(7例)等,对照组的主要不良反应为便秘(14例)、口干(12例)、心动过速(12例)、锥体外系不良反应(7例)等。结论奥卡西平能有效辅助治疗精神分裂症、分裂样精神病的兴奋状态。     

首发精神分裂症患者倒背数字作业的fMEI研究

目的利用功能磁共振成像(fMRI)探讨首发精神分裂症患者倒背数字作业激发图像的特点.方法 36例符合ICD-10诊断标准的(首发)精神分裂症患者及18名健康志愿者进行以倒背数字作业(backward digit span task, BDST)作为刺激模式、采用组块(block)设计的fMRI检查,经工作站处理后获功能图像.用阳性和阴性症状量表(PANSS)评价精神分裂症患者精神症状的严重程度. 结果 (1)健康志愿者与精神分裂症患者激活脑区的范围均较广泛,健康志愿者的左侧额上回、双侧额中回、左侧额下回、左侧中央前回、左侧顶上小叶、左侧缘上回、左侧颞下回及左侧枕颞外侧回等脑区均有明显激活.两组激活的脑区在额叶、颞叶、顶叶、枕叶及扣带回的分布,以及各脑区内部分布的差异均没有显著性(P>0.05).(2)健康志愿者与精神分裂症患者激活计数左侧额上回分别为16和11,左侧额下回分别为15和12,左侧中央前回分别为16和17,左侧颞下回分别为14和12,左侧顶上小叶分别为14和14,左侧缘上回分别为14和7,左侧枕颞外侧回分别为14和7,右侧中央前回分别为13和7,右侧枕颞外侧回分别为11和8,两组上述部位激活计数的差异均有显著性(P均＜0.05).(3)健康志愿者与精神分裂症患者左侧额叶背外侧的激活平均体积分别为(362±296)个体素和(79±101)个体素,差异有非常显著性(P=0.001);右侧顶叶后下部的激活平均体积分别为(448±273)个体素和(193±236)个体素,差异有显著性(P=0.039). 结论早期精神分裂症患者可能存在工作记忆缺陷,包括激活信息的保持及执行控制过程,激活信息的保持缺陷可能与左侧额叶腹外侧及顶叶后下部的功能低下有关,而执行控制缺陷可能与左侧额叶背外侧的功能低下有关.     

抑郁症首次发病中年女性患者的弥散张量成像研究

目的 运用基于纤维束示踪的空间统计学方法(tract-based spatial statistics,TBSS)探索首次发病抑郁症中年女性患者脑白质微观结构的损害.方法 对20例首次发病抑郁症中年女性患者(患者组)和15名与患者组性别、年龄、受教育程度相匹配的健康志愿者(对照组)进行全脑弥散张量成像扫描.应用TBSS方法对患者组和对照组的部分各向异性(fractional anisotropy,FA)值进行组间比较.结果 与对照组相比,患者组左侧前额叶、左侧内囊、右侧楔前叶白质的FA值显著降低(P ＜0.005,簇＞40).结论 脑白质病变在抑郁症发病的早期即已存在,异常脑区涉及与认知和情感调节关系较密切的前额叶-子皮质神经环路和默认网络的纤维束.     

A population-based morphometric MRI study in patients with first-episode psychotic bipolar disorder: comparison with geographically matched healthy controls and major depressive disorder subjects

Périco CA‐M, Duran FLS, Zanetti MV, Santos LC, Murray RM, Scazufca M, Menezes PR, Busatto GF, Schaufelberger MS. A population‐based morphometric MRI study in patients with first‐episode psychotic bipolar disorder: comparison with geographically matched healthy controls and major depressive disorder subjects.
Bipolar Disord 2011: 13: 28–40. © 2011 The Authors.
Journal compilation © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives: Many morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies that have investigated the presence of gray matter (GM) volume abnormalities associated with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) have reported conflicting findings. None of these studies has compared patients with recent‐onset psychotic BD with asymptomatic controls selected from exactly the same environment using epidemiological methods, or has directly contrasted BD patients against subjects with first‐onset psychotic major depressive disorder (MDD). We examined structural brain differences between (i) BD (type I) subjects and MDD subjects with psychotic features in their first contact with the healthcare system in Brazil, and (ii) these two mood disorder groups relative to a sample of geographically matched asymptomatic controls. Methods: A total of 26 BD subjects, 20 subjects with MDD, and 94 healthy controls were examined using either of two identical MRI scanners and acquisition protocols. Diagnoses were based on DSM‐IV criteria and confirmed one year after brain scanning. Image processing was conducted using voxel‐based morphometry. Results: The BD group showed increased volume of the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex relative to controls, while the MDD subjects exhibited bilateral foci GM deficits in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). Direct comparison between BD and MDD patients showed a focus of GM reduction in the right‐sided dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) and a trend (p < 0.10, corrected) toward left‐sided GM deficits in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of MDD patients. When analyses were repeated with scanner site as a confounding covariate the finding of increased right anterior cingulate volumes in BD patients relative to controls remained statistically significant (p = 0.01, corrected for multiple comparisons). Conclusions: These findings reinforce the view that there are important pathophysiological distinctions between BD and MDD, and indicate that subtle dorsal anterior cingulate abnormalities may be relevant to the pathophysiology of BD.     

Unreality symptoms and volumetric measures of Heschl's gyrus and planum temporal in first-episode psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia may involve dysfunction to primary auditory, speech, and language processes governed by the superior temporal gyrus (STG). These processes are implicated in hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder. The current study explored the relationship between unreality symptoms (hallucinations and delusions) and specific STG substructures, including Heschl's gyrus (HG) and planum temporale (PT). METHODS: Twenty-five right-handed men within their first episode of psychosis were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for the presence of hallucinations and delusional behavior (a composite score of delusions, grandiosity, suspiciousness, and unusual thought content). T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired using a 1.5 Tesla scanner. Stereological measurements of HG and PT volume were obtained. Linear regression methods explored the relationship between regional volumes and symptoms. RESULTS: Reductions in left HG were associated with hallucinations and delusions. Increases in left PT were associated with delusional behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Current results implicate HG dysfunction in unreality symptoms in men with recent-onset schizophrenia.     

Pseudohypacusis in childhood and adolescence is associated with increased gray matter volume in the medial frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus

Pseudohypacusis is a somatoform disorder characterized by hearing loss with discrepancies between pure-tone audiometry and auditory brainstem response (ABR), but the underlying neuronal mechanisms remain unclear. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for 14 unmedicated, right-handed patients and 35 healthy control subjects, we investigated whether functional hearing loss was associated with discernible changes of brain morphology. Group differences in gray matter volume (GMV) were assessed using high-resolution, T1-weighted, volumetric MR imaging datasets (3T Trio scanner; Siemens AG) and analyzed with covariant factors of age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and total GMV, which was increased by 27.9% in the left medial frontal gyrus (MFG) (Brodmann area 10) (p = .001, corrected cluster level) and by 14.4% in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the adjacent middle temporal gyrus (MTG) (BA42 to 21) (p = .009, corrected cluster level) in patients with pseudohypacusis. The GMV in the right STG (BA42) and verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) were correlated significantly with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Third Edition (WISC-III) (ß = ?.57, p < .0001) and level of SES (ß = ?.55, p < .0001). The present findings suggest that the development of the auditory association cortex involved in language processing is affected, causing insufficient pruning during brain development. We therefore assert that differences in the neuroanatomical substrate of pseudohypacusis subjects result from a developmental disorder in auditory processing.     

MRI study of the cerebellum in young bipolar patients

Prior studies demonstrate structural abnormalities of cerebellar vermis in adult bipolar patients. Cerebella of 16 young bipolar patients (mean age+/-S.D.=15.5+/-3.4) and 21 healthy controls (mean age+/-S.D.=16.9+/-3.8) were examined using magnetic resonance imaging. The volumes of right, left and total cerebellum, vermis, and areas of vermal regions V1 (lobules I-V), V2 (lobules VI-VII), and V3 (lobules VIII-X) were measured. Analysis of covariance, with age, gender, and intra-cranial brain volume as covariates, revealed no significant differences in cerebellum or vermis measures between patients and controls; however, there was a trend to smaller vermis V2 areas in patients (p=0.06). The number of previous affective episodes and vermis area V2 were inversely correlated (partial correlation coefficient=-0.97, P=0.001) in the male bipolar patient group. Our results are preliminary, but consistent with the findings from studies in adult bipolar patients suggesting the involvement of structural changes in cerebellar vermis in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder.     

Superior temporal gyrus volume change in schizophrenia: A review on Region of Interest volumetric studies

Imaging studies of schizophrenia (SCZ) have repeatedly demonstrated volume differences in superior temporal gyrus (STG) and its subregions. Among them, some studies employed the Region of Interest (ROI) method. We carried out a systematic review of the published literature on STG volumetry MRI studies to examine the potential of ROI method for identifying specific structural differences and correlations with clinical variables including hallucinations and thought disorder symptoms in SCZ. Forty-six studies were identified as suitable for review and analysis including 1444 patients with SCZ and 1327 controls. Female and left-handed subjects are under-represented in the literature and insight from sex and handedness differences may be lost. Thirty-five studies reported significant differences in STG or subregional volumes including bilateral or unilateral ROI, and volume reduction was the most common change in SCZ. Thirty studies reported correlations between volume changes and clinical symptoms or syndromes and 18 found positive results. Among them, left STG or subregions appear to be more involved in the generation of hallucinations and thought disorder than right side. The majority of five follow-up studies found evidence of progressive changes in volumes. Clinical heterogeneity, MRI acquisition parameters, anatomical landmarks for ROI, and sample characteristics, are likely to be the main factors leading to heterogeneous results. Clearly this research links pathophysiological changes in the STG with the development of hallucinations and thought disorder in patients with SCZ, especially in the left side. There is a suggestion that these changes may be progressive but this requires more thorough and comprehensive assessment.     

MRI changes in schizophrenia in late life: a preliminary controlled study

The aim of this pilot study was to compare cerebral changes on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in elderly schizophrenic subjects with those in psychiatric and normal control subjects. We compared the MRIs of 19 subjects with schizophrenia, 19 age- and gender-matched subjects with recurrent major depression, and 19 age- and gender-matched nonpsychiatric control subjects. Deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMH) in right posterior regions were significantly more prominent in the schizophrenic group than in the two comparison groups. Total ratings of MRI abnormalities were significantly related to age in both the normal control and schizophrenic groups, but not in the depressive group. Age of onset was positively associated with total ratings in the depressive group, but not in the schizophrenic group. Thus, a subset of elderly patients with schizophrenia appear to have cerebral white matter abnormalities; such abnormalities may not be confined to lage-onset schizophrenia. Systematic MRI studies of early- and late-onset schizophrenia in late life are needed to resolve this question.