55 STRUCTURAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING STUDIES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

The window on the brain provided by structural imaging has transformed our view of schizophrenia to one that views the very structure of the brain as altered, a view echoing Kraepelin’s prescient statement. Beginning with Johnstone’s CT findings of enlarged ventricles (which actually confirmed earlier, less systematic pneumoencephalographic studies), subsequent reports using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have provided key information detailing volume reductions in particular brain anatomic regions of interest (ROI). These data have provided the major evidence in support of our current view that schizophrenia is a brain disorder with altered brain structure, and consequently involving more than a simple disturbance in neurotransmission.