Corpus Callosum Thickness in Chronic Schizophrenia

In an effort at replication of the original report (Rosenthal and Bigelow, 1972) of increased callosal thickness in schizophrenic brains, the corpus callosum was measured in a blind study of 64 brains autopsied between the years 1972 and 1976. Diagnosis was established by independent chart review. The mean corpus callosum mid sections of 21 early onset chronic schizophrenic brains were found to have a significantly greater thickness when compared with 8 subjects with late onset schizophrenia, 13 patients with neurological diagnoses, or 14 patients with other psychiatric diagnoses. These studies, if independently confirmed, should provide an impetus for testing the hypothesis that some chronic schizophrenic patients have an illness associated with a pathological process in the corpus callosum.