Brain imaging in late-onset schizophrenia and related psychoses

✍ Scribed by Alice J. Krull; Gary Press; Renee Dupont; M. Jackuelyn Harris; Dilip V. Jeste

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 701 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930060907

✦ Synopsis

In this article we review the published studies on brain imaging in late-life psychoses, and present data from our study of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the brain in late-onset schizophrenia (LOS). MR images were obtained in 11 patients with late-onset schizophrenia (LOS), nine patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), and nine normal controls comparable in age, gender, and education. Two of the LOS patients were excluded from further analysis due to the presence of diagnosable organic pathology (ie Alzheimer's disease and presence of a subaracnoid cyst). The MR images were subjectively rated for both degree of ventricular enlargement (VE) and degree of abnormal white matter hyperintensities (WMH) by an experienced, board certified neuroradiologist in a blind manner. No significant differences were found among the groups on degree of abnormal WMH. MR images of AD patients had a significantly greater degree of VE than normal controls, with LOS patients being intermediate. Our data, along with previous reports, suggest that a subset of patients with late-onset psychosis meet DSM-111-R criteria for LOS and have evidence of non-specific abnormalities in brain morphology on MR imaging, yet do not have clinical or MR imaging evidence of a specific organic etiology for psychosis.