Relationship between brain structural abnormalities and early onset psychotic disorder–case presentation

Abstract

IntroductionContemporary structural models of several psychiatric disorders propose abnormalities in the structure and function of distinct neural networks. Clinical observations of affective and cognitive changes arising from cerebellar lesions and stimulation permit the hypothesis that the cerebellum may not be irrelevant in some neuropsychiatric states. There is evidence that patients with schizophrenia have altered corticocerebellar connectivity.ObjectivesTo evidence a case with early onset psychosis accompanied with brain structural abnormalities.MethodCase description.ResultsThe patient is 15 years old girl with an acute psychotic episode. For more than two months she had demonstrated odd behavior, getting around all the time purposelessly, abandoned school etc. She presented with disorders of perceptions, disorganized speech, insomnia and fluctuations in her mood and behavior. In her brain, MRI was found vermian atrophy, and CT was found hypocampal glyosis and dilatation of temporal corn.ConclusionsAlthough the structural mapping studies have been equivocal, the weight of evidence supports extending the study of cerebellar activity in schizophrenia. For example, the finding that unaffected first-degree relatives of probands with schizophrenia have reduced cerebellar volumes, along with the observation of reduced cerebellar volumes in neurolepticnaïve patients with schizophrenia, suggests that cerebellar atrophy may be a hereditary trait rather than a psychotropic associated epiphenomenon.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.