Ingrid Agartz poster abstract

Cerebellar vermis volume reduction in patients with chronic schizophrenia

G. Okugawa1, G. Sedvall2, I. Agartz2

1UWCM, Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan; 2Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Cognitive deficits have been reported in patients with schizophrenia. A reduction of the size of the posterior vermis has been associated with cognitive dysfunction in the fragile X syndrome. Since the posterior vermis may be involved in cognitive dysfunction, we hypothesised that the volume of the posterior vermis may be reduced in schizophrenia.

To test this hypothesis, we compared the volumes of cerebellar subregions between sixty schizophrenic subjects, fulfilling DSM-IV criteria, and fifty-seven healthy subjects, of both genders, using high resolution MRI.

The subjects were examined in a 1.5 Tesla GE Sigma system (Milwaukee, WI, USA) at the Karolinska Hospital. The cerebellar anterior vermis, posterior superior vermis, posterior inferior vermis and hemispheres were manually parcellated and measured using the software BRAINS.

The statistical evaluation revealed a significant diagnostic effect for all vermian subregions with smaller absolute (p > 0.005) and relative volumes (p > 0.001) in the schizophrenic subjects. There was no difference for the cerebellar hemispheres or the intracranial volume.

These preliminary findings suggest that the subdivisions of the vermis have reduced volumes in neuroleptic-treated schizophrenic patients.

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