Computed tomography (CT) findings of schizophrenic patients after long time from psychosurgery

The CT findings on 20 chronic schizophrenic inpatients who had undergone psychosurgery 37 years ago (operated group) were compared to 20 chronic schizophrenic inpatients without psychosurgery (non-operated group). The subjects of non-operated group were selected by matched age, sex and duration of the illness. Operated group showed significant decrease in frontal lobe size (p<0.001), enlargement of frontal horns of the lateral ventricle (p<0.01), widening of interhemispheric fissure (p<0.05), and brain atrophy (p<0.001) in comparison with non-operated group. Size of surgical injury showed significant rank correlation to frontal lobe size (p<0.01) and brain atrophy (p<0.001). Regarding the horizontal level of injury, in comparison with non-operated group, the patients with deficit in higher frontal areas showed enlargement of lateral ventricles (p<0.01) and those with deficit in lower frontal areas showed widening of interhemispheric fissure (p<0.05). Regarding the laterality of injury, the patients with deficit in left hemisphere showed significantly widened sylvian fissure in comparison with non-operated group (p<0.05). (author)