Objectives :Nowadays many studies with MRI have reported structural abnormalities of corpus callosum of schizophrenic patients. However, the results are various and inconstant. In this study, we attempted to identify structural change of corpus callosum.
IViethod : We measured the size of corpus callosum of the 24 schizophrenia patients (male 11, female 18) who were diagnosed by DSM-IV (1994), visited at department of psychiatry, catholic university hospital of Daegu from January 2002 to December 2003, by using midline sagittal slice of MRI. These results were compared with the size of corpus callosum of 25 controls (male 7, female 18). We divided corpus callosum into 7 areas. We calculated and compared the areas of each subregion, mid-sagittal cerebral area, and entire corpus callosum. The results were analyzed by independent t-test.
Result :When we compared subregion to corpus callosum adjusted with mid-sagittal cerebral area, schizophrenia patients had significantly smaller genu (1.640.32 vs. 1.430.26 ; p<0.05) and splenium (2.160.27 vs. ~ 1.´960.30 ; p<0.05). Similarly, the ratio of total corpus callosum to midline sagittal cerebral area (%)(7.500.72 vs. 6.900.82 ; p<0.05) was significantly smaller in schizophrenia than control ctroup.
Conclusion : In this study, we found significant differences in corpus callosum between schizophrenic patients and normal control group.
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