NORMALIZED TOTAL BRAIN, CORTEX AND WHITE MATTER VOLUMES SHOW SEX DEPENDENT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CONTROL SUBJECTS AND SCHIZOPHRENICS: A BRAIN SEGMENTATION STUDY

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Background. The brain size of the brain varies depending on the body size of the normal subjects. Meanwhile, the size of the brain decreases in the schizophrenics. However, only volume comparison may not give realistic results unless they are normalized. Aim. In the present study, we compared the normalized volume data between the controls and schizophrenics. Material and Methods. 88 controls (37 females, 51 males) and 57 schizophrenic patients included to the study. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed and the DICOM images were analyzed using the FreeSurfer which is an automatic brain segmentation software. The total volumes of brain, cortex and white matter divided to the estimated total intracranial volume for the normalization of the data and results compared between the groups. Results and Discussion. The normalized total brain fraction was smaller in schizophrenic females (72.86%) than that of control females (75.73%). But there was not differences for the normalized total brain fraction between the schizophrenic males (72.89%) and control males (74.17%, p≥0.05). The normalized cortical volume fraction was smaller in schizophrenics both for females and males (28.52 and 28.77%) that of the control females and males (29.97%, 29.87%). The normalized white matter volume fraction was smaller in schizophrenic females (30.26%) than that of control females (31.47%). But there was not differences for the normalized total brain fraction between the schizophrenic males (29.50%) and control males (30.32%, p≥0.05). Conclusions. The normalized total brain size was smaller in the schizophrenics in both sexes. However, the normalized cortical and white matter sizes were only smaller in females between groups. Therefore, there are sex dependent differences.