Ventricular enlargement in child psychiatric patients: a controlled study with planimetric measurements.

Data from adult schizophrenic patients suggest that patients with enlarged ventricles have a poorer premorbid history and may have an earlier onset of their illness than patients with ventricles of normal size. The authors examined a group of child psychiatric patients to discover whether these children at risk for major psychopathology had enlarged ventricles. Twenty psychiatric patients showed significantly enlarged ventricles compared with 19 control patients. There were no clear relationships between the children's psychiatric diagnosis and ventricular size.