Unsuspected organic disease inchronic schizophrenia demonstrated bycomputed tomography D G CUNNINGHAM OWENS*, E C JOHNSTONE*, G M BYDDERt, AND L KREELt Divisionis ofPsychiatry* andRadiologyt, Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, England

SUMMARY Unsuspected intracranial pathology was demonstrated in 12 of 136 chronicschizophrenic patients examinedbycomputedtomography(CT). Seven cases ofcerebral infarction were found, and one eachofporencephalic cyst, meningioma,cystic enlargementofthepinealbody,and two ofsubdural haematoma. Attention is drawnto the value ofCTin demonstrating organicdisease in schizophrenia. While the role of computed tomography (CT) in neurology land neurosurgery is established, the value of this technique in psychiatry is not yet clear. So far its main application in the investiga- tion of major psychotic illness has been to detectstructural change in the brain manifest as cere- bral atrophy. Previous CT studies have shown a relationship between cognitive impairment andventricular dilatation in selected chronic schizo-phrenic patients' 2 and also that schizophrenicpatients mayexhibit a degree ofventricular dilata- tion.2 Wepresent details of clinically unsuspected intracranial disease demonstrated in