J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1996; 8:47-53
Copyright © 1996 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Increased prevalence of septal cavitation in a nonschizophrenic sample: an MRI study of HIV-infected individuals
FM Lalonde, A Martin and MS Myslobodsky
Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. francois@codon.nih.gov
Analyses of MRI scans of 26 asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals (HIV+)
and 10 HIV-seronegative psychiatric control subjects (HIV-) revealed an
incidental finding: 50% of the HIV+ subjects had discernible cleft in the
septum pellucidum (cavum septi pellucidi; CSP), compared to only 20% of the
HIV- control subjects. HIV+ subjects with CSP were more likely to complain
of sensory changes and performed more poorly on specific neuropsychological
tests when compared with HIV+ subjects without CSP. These findings suggest
that elevated rates of CSP are not limited to the schizophrenic population.
CSP may be a marker of premorbid events that increase the vulnerability to
cognitive and perhaps behavioral sequelae of neurologic disease or injury.
