Alternate ventricular asymmetry could suggest a psychiatric diagnosis

Clin Anat. 2017 Jan;30(1):50-52. doi: 10.1002/ca.22789. Epub 2016 Oct 31.

Abstract

Routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the skull and brain for diagnostic purposes sometimes reveals a wider tip of the frontal ventricular horn on one side and a wider tip of the temporal horn on the other. A search for 'alternate ventricular asymmetry' in Google Scholar, Medline and PubMed Central yielded no results, so the digital archive of the hospital was searched for such cases. A total of 5908 examinations were reviewed and 508 cases were found, comprising 6% of the neurological inpatients and 20% of the psychiatric inpatients (P = 0.001 by χ2 ). The >3-fold difference in the incidence of this particular ventricular asymmetry implies that it could suggest a psychiatric diagnosis. Clin. Anat. 30:50-52, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: alternate ventricular asymmetry; cerebral MRI; cerebral asymmetry; psychiatric diagnosis; ventricular asymmetry.

MeSH terms

  • Cerebral Ventricles / pathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / pathology*