A magnetic resonance imaging study in first-episode disorganized-type patients with schizophrenia |
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Authors: | TOHRU OHNUMA MD MICHIHIRO KIMURA MD TADASHI TAKAHASHI MD NORIHIKO IWAMOTO MD PHD HEII ARAI MD PHD |
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Affiliation: | Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan |
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Abstract: | Abstract Although a number of radiological studies have suggested that brains of patients suffering from schizoprenia have morphological abnormalities, the results are inconsistent. In the present study, in order to examine the brain, morphological features of homogeneous schizophrenics' brain magnetic resonance imagings (MRI) were taken, before neuroleptic treatment, from subjects suffering from disorganized-type schizophrenia, (DOS) during their first episodes. Results showed that DOS had significantly smaller indices for bilateral frontal gray matter (GM), left hippocampal formation (HF), left parahippocampal gray matter (PHGM) and left cingulate gyrus gray matter (CGM) than normal controls. These findings support the previous computed tomography (CT) and MRI studies on schizophrenic brains, although the subjects were not defined as disorganized-type, and may suggest the involvement of a neurocircuit between the bilateral frontal lobe and the left side of limbic system in the first-episode DOS group. |
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Keywords: | brain morphology disorganized-type magnetic resonance imaging onset of illness schizophrenia |
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