NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said an abnormal pattern in an area of the brain that governs hearing could help to diagnose schizophrenia.
Researchers at Yale University scanned the brains of 17 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and compared the images with 17 normal people. They found abnormalities in the structure and function of the auditory cortex prominent in the brains of those with schizophrenia -- particularly in an area called the superior temporal gyrus.
"These results seem to point to a cardinal abnormality in schizophrenia," said Dr. Godfrey Pearlson, professor of psychiatry. "Using this imaging test, we were able to identify patients with schizophrenia with 97 percent accuracy."
Currently, the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia is based on a variety of psychiatric symptoms. Although the mental illness has been associated with other brain structural and functional abnormalities, so far there has been no diagnostic test for the disorder.
