Increased prefrontal sulcal prominence in relatively young patients with unipolar major depression

Helio Elkis, Lee Friedman, Peter F. Buckley, Hong Shick Lee, Christine Lys, Benjamin Kaufman, Herbert Y. Meltzer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although several studies have reported ventricular enlargement and sulcal prominence in mixed samples of patients with affective disorders (unipolar and bipolar subtypes), it is not established if these findings extend to a homogeneous sample of relatively young patients with unipolar major depression ventricular:brain ratio (VBR) and prefrontal sulcal prominence (PSP). In the present study, measures of ventricle-brain ratio (VBR) and prefrontal sulcal prominence (PSP) were compared in patients with affective disorders (n = 24, mean age = 39), medical control subjects (n = 40), patients with schizophrenia (n = 101) on ventricular: brain ratio (VBR) and prefrontal sulcal prominence (PSP). No statistically significant differences were noted in VBR in the three groups. Both patient groups had significantly greater PSP than the medical control subjects but did not differ significantly from each other. The results of the present study extend the finding of prefrontal sulcal prominence, but not ventricular enlargement, to relatively young patients with unipolar depression. Furthermore, the results of the present study suggest that patients with schizophrenia and patients with affective disorders differ only slightly or not at all in brain morphology, at the level of resolution studied.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)123-134
Number of pages12
JournalPsychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
Volume67
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 31 1996

Keywords

  • Affective disorder
  • Computed tomography
  • Schizophrenia
  • Ventricle-brain ratio

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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