Patterns of cranial, brain and sulcal CSF volumes in male and female deficit and nondeficit patients with schizophrenia

Recent evidence suggests that schizophrenia reflects a neurodegenerative process. The studies have not compared brain change patterns in male and female patients with schizophrenia or examined the relation of these patterns to patient subgroups defined by specific symptom domains. Maximum Total Brain Volume (TBVmax), total cranial (TCV), total brain (TBV), sulcal CSF (sCSF), and ventricular (VV) volumes were measured in 66 normal controls (32 females, 34 males), and 85 patients with schizophrenia (21 females, 64 males). Sixty-six patients were categorized as nondeficit and 19 as deficit patients. Patients had smaller TBV and larger VV than normal controls. Patients also showed significant excessive brain volume loss after, but not before, TBVmax was achieved compared with normal controls. Although male patients had larger brain volume loss compared with male normal controls than female patients had compared with female normal controls, there were no significant gender x diagnosis interactions. Male patients with the deficit syndrome, but not those without the deficit syndrome, had significantly larger ventricles than normal controls. There were no other significant deficit/nondeficit differences. The present study suggests that brain volume loss in schizophrenia occurs after TBVmax and that male and female patients and deficit and nondeficit patients with schizophrenia do not demonstrate any differences in the time course of their brain volume reductions.