An MRI study of adolescent patients with either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder as compared to healthy control subjects

Background: There are few imaging studies in adolescent patients with either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Such studies are of interest because adolescents may have a more severe illness and neurodevelopmental events may have a greater role in their pathophysiology. Methods: We compared 20 patients with schizophrenia and 15 patients with bipolar disorder (10 to 18 years) to 16 normal adolescents on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of intracranial volume and ventricular and sulcal enlargement. Two planned comparison contrasts were employed, one comparing the two patient groups to each other (contrast 1), and one comparing both patient groups combined to control subjects (contrast 2). Results: None of the contrast 1 comparisons (schizophrenia vs bipolar) were statistically significant. Contrast 2 comparisons (control subjects vs patients) were statistically significant for intracranial volume (reduced in patients) as well as frontal and temporal sulcal size (increased in patients). Conclusions: The patient groups were not statistically significantly different from each other on any measure. The combined patient groups were different from control subjects on intracranial volume and frontal and temporal sulcal size. Also, there was evidence for ventricular enlargement, after removal of a control subject with an extreme value. These findings indicate that the same abnormalities noted in adult populations are present in adolescents.