Computed tomography in affective disorders. Part I. Ventricular and sulcal measurements.

Sixty patients with affective illness were examined by computed tomography (CT) and compared to 60 age- and sex-matched controls. Using three different methods of measurement, no differences in ventricular brain ratio (VBR) between patients and controls could be detected. However, linear ventricular values of the frontal horns plus the bicaudate distance (Huckmann number) and the third ventricle were enlarged in the total group of patients. This was also found in subgroups of older, male, psychotic, unipolar, Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) positive, and lithium-treated patients when compared to individually matched controls. Younger, nonpsychotic, female, bipolar, DST-normal and non-lithium-treated patients did not differ from controls. The Huckmann number correlated with the duration of illness, as measured by the first episode and the number of episodes. The comparison between the subgroups of patients yielded higher linear and VBR values in older subjects, in men, and in psychotic subjects, whereas no differences were found in comparisons between unipolar versus bipolar, DST-positive versus DST-negative, and lithium-treated versus non-lithium-treated patients.