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Progressive brain atrophy has been documented in adolescents with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) (JW Psychiatry Dec 1999, p. 96, accession number 991201008, and Biol Psychiatry 1999; 46:892). Now, the same research team has extended these findings. They examined brain changes by region on 3 sets of MRIs performed over 5 years in 3 groups of adolescents: 12 adolescents with COS (mean age, 14) who were resistant to typical antipsychotics and had disease onset before age 12, 12 healthy adolescents, and 10 adolescents with psychosis not otherwise specified who were matched for IQ and medication (medication controls).
To compare progressive changes, the investigators constructed subtraction maps to account for normal brain loss. Compared wit…