Multiple structural brain measures obtained by three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging to distinguish between schizophrenia patients and normal subjects.

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which schizophrenia patients can be differentiated from normal subjects by structural brain measures. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed on 57 schizophrenia patients (30 males, 27 females) and 47 normal controls (25 males, 22 females). Significant enlargements of the left and right body of the lateral ventricle, the left and right sylvian fissure, and the third ventricle were observed in the male patients. Significant enlargements of the left inferior horn, and the left and right sylvian fissure, and a significant volume reduction of the right temporal lobe were observed in the female patients. Discriminant function analysis using brain anatomical measures as variables allowed correct classification of 80.0 percent of the male patients, 80.0 percent of the male controls, 77.8 percent of the female patients, and 86.4 percent of the female controls. These findings support the view that schizophrenia patients have structural deviations in multiple brain areas and that a combination of structural brain measures can distinguish between patients and controls.