To determine whether abnormalities in brain morphology are present at
the onset of illness, patients with schizophrenia, schizophreniform and
bipolar disorders, and major depression who were experiencing their first
episodes of psychosis were compared with normal and medical control
subjects. The schizophrenic patients had larger third ventricles but not
larger lateral ventricles or cortical sulci than the normal subjects. The
other psychotic patients did not differ from the normal group on these
measures. A different pattern of results emerged when the medical patients
were used for comparison, indicating that the choice of control group can
influence the findings of computerized tomography studies.
Abstract Teaser