Prevalence and characteristics of cavum septum pellucidum in schizophrenia: A 16 slice computed tomography study

Abstract

Objective: Several significant midline abnormalities including cavum septum pellucidum (CSP) have been reported in schizophrenia. However, not all studies were able to replicate similar findings. Furthermore, very few of them were conducted with large samples. Methods: CSP was identified and graded with 16 slice computed tomography (CT) machine in 138 patients of schizophrenia and 64 controls. Results: We found 21.0% of patients in schizophrenia group had abnormal CSP compared to only 9.4% in control group (P = 0.047). Grade III was most frequent type (19.6%) in schizophrenia group. Conclusions: Our study adds to the existing literature suggesting abnormal CSP may reflect neurodevelopmental process in schizophrenia. The strength of our study was larger sample size. Limitations were use of CT, male predominance in schizophrenia group, the inclusion of nonpsychiatric patients in control group.

Keywords

• Cavum septum pellucidum
• characteristics
• computed tomography
• neuroimaging
• prevalence
• schizophrenia