BACKGROUND: Late paraphrenia is recognised as a heterogeneous disorder. This is reflected by the division of such patients into schizophrenia and delusional disorder in ICD-10. Earlier imaging studies have suggested that major structural abnormalities may be associated with the onset of psychosis in later life. METHOD: Fifty late paraphrenics and 35 age-matched healthy controls underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging of the whole brain in the coronal plane. Measurements were made of intracranial and brain volumes and the volumes of the intracerebral and extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid spaces. RESULTS: No differences in intracranial, brain or extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid volumes between patients and controls were found. Late paraphrenic patients had greater lateral and third ventricle volumes than controls and the left lateral ventricle was larger than the right. When the patients were divided into appropriate ICD-10 diagnoses: paranoid schizophrenia (n = 31) and delusional disorder (n = 16), lateral ventricle volumes in the delusional disorder patients were much greater than those of the schizophrenics and almost twice those of controls. CONCLUSIONS: Structural brain differences underly diagnostic heterogeneity within late paraphrenia. The brains of late onset schizophrenics are only subtly different from those of healthy elderly individuals.
BACKGROUND:Late paraphrenia is recognised as a heterogeneous disorder. This is reflected by the division of such patients into schizophrenia and delusional disorder in ICD-10. Earlier imaging studies have suggested that major structural abnormalities may be associated with the onset of psychosis in later life. METHOD: Fifty late paraphrenics and 35 age-matched healthy controls underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging of the whole brain in the coronal plane. Measurements were made of intracranial and brain volumes and the volumes of the intracerebral and extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid spaces. RESULTS: No differences in intracranial, brain or extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid volumes between patients and controls were found. Late paraphrenic patients had greater lateral and third ventricle volumes than controls and the left lateral ventricle was larger than the right. When the patients were divided into appropriate ICD-10 diagnoses: paranoid schizophrenia (n = 31) and delusional disorder (n = 16), lateral ventricle volumes in the delusional disorderpatients were much greater than those of the schizophrenics and almost twice those of controls. CONCLUSIONS: Structural brain differences underly diagnostic heterogeneity within late paraphrenia. The brains of late onset schizophrenics are only subtly different from those of healthy elderly individuals.
Authors: A Colchester; D Kingsley; D Lasserson; B Kendall; F Bello; C Rush; T G Stevens; G Goodman; G Heilpern; N Stanhope; M D Kopelman Journal: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry Date: 2001-07 Impact factor: 10.154
Authors: Pak Wing Calvin Cheng; Wing Chung Chang; Gladys G Lo; Kit Wa Sherry Chan; Ho Ming Edwin Lee; Lai Ming Christy Hui; Yi Nam Suen; Yim Lung Eric Leung; Kai Ming Paul Au Yeung; Sirong Chen; Ka Fung Henry Mak; Pak Chung Sham; Barbara Santangelo; Mattia Veronese; Chi-Lai Ho; Yu Hai Eric Chen; Oliver D Howes Journal: Neuropsychopharmacology Date: 2020-07-01 Impact factor: 7.853