Brain imaging in childhood- and adolescence-onset schizophrenia associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Abstract

Childhood- and adolescence-onset schizophrenic patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) constitute a specific subgroup of schizophrenia. We performed magnetic resonance imaging in this group seeking evidence of neurodevelopmental insults. Thirty-two schizophrenic patients were compared with 19 controls. Schizophrenic subjects were divided into 15 patients with OCS (SOCS+ group; onset at 15.5 +/- 1.6 years) and 17 without OCS (SOCS- group; onset at 15.3 +/- 1.3 years). Areas of the hippocampus, frontal lobe, corpus callosum and putamen were analysed morphometrically. The left hippocampus was significantly smaller in the SOCS+ group than in the SOCS- and control groups. Reduced size of the left hippocampus in the SOCS+ group supports a neurodevelopmental etiology in this subgroup.