Computerised tomography in schizophrenia. Familial versus non-familial forms of illness.

Findings on CT and demographical or clinical data in 80 patients with DSM-III schizophrenia and 45 medical controls were evaluated. Multiple-discriminant analysis showed that the enlargement of the third ventricle and frontal and parietal atrophy could significantly predict the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Widening of Sylvian fissures and parietal atrophy differentiated familial schizophrenics of both horizontal transmission (who had affected siblings) and vertical transmission (who had affected parents or/and offspring) from non-familial patients. Parietal atrophy and a history of birth complications differentiated horizontal from vertical transmission. The CT findings together with some clinical characteristics could differentiate the three subgroups classified by the hereditary form; thus each of these subgroup may belong to a different disease entity, of a different pathophysiology.