Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:685-687
Copyright © 1997 by American Psychiatric Association
Three-dimensional cortical morphometry of the planum temporale in childhood-onset schizophrenia
LK Jacobsen, JN Giedd, C Tanrikut, DR Brady, BC Donohue, SD Hamburger, S Kumra, J Alaghband-Rad, JM Rumsey and JL Rapoport
Child Psychiatry Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. lkj@helix.nih.gov
OBJECTIVE: Anomalous planum temporale asymmetry has been linked to both
schizophrenia and dyslexia. The authors examined the planum temporale of
adolescents with childhood-onset schizophrenia who had a high rate of
prepsychotic language disorders. METHOD: Planum temporale area and
asymmetry were measured in 16 right-handed adolescent patients with
schizophrenia who had experienced onset of psychosis by age 12. The same
measures were made in 16 healthy adolescents matched for age, sex, and
handedness. RESULTS: No differences between the healthy adolescents and
those with schizophrenia in planum temporale area or asymmetry were
observed. Prepsychotic language disorder predicted abnormal planum
temporale asymmetry in the adolescents with schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS:
These findings do not support anomalous planum temporale asymmetry as a
basis for psychopathology in childhood-onset schizophrenia.
