Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:1084-1088
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Comparison of MRI and CT scans in a group of psychiatric patients
BM Cohen, F Buonanno, PE Keck Jr, SP Finklestein and FM Benes
Mailman Laboratories for Psychiatric Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02178.
The authors compared the results of computerized tomography (CT) and
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 16 psychotic patients with
various diagnoses whose neurologic examinations suggested structural brain
abnormalities. Blind readings showed a high concordance of findings,
including ventricle-to-brain ratios, although MRI appeared superior in
visualizing midline structures and identifying atrophic changes. Because it
requires no ionizing radiation, MRI allows multiple studies of the same
patient, study of family members, and recruitment of unbiased samples of
control subjects. Use of MRI may help address questions regarding the
specificity and prevalence of brain abnormalities observed with CT in
psychotic patients.
