To the Editor.—
We recently reported1 that ratios of temporal lobe area to cerebrum area determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were significantly smaller in patients with primary affective disorder than in normal controls. While the results suggested temporal lobe abnormalities in the patients with affective disorder, only one coronal slice through each middle temporal lobe was examined. We report preliminary findings of total temporal lobe volume in 10 patients with bipolar disorder and in 10 normal controls.
Subjects and Methods.—
Ten patients meeting Research Diagnostic Criteria for bipolar disorder were studied. All patients had bipolar I disorder; six patients were from a previous study.1 The remaining four patients had been admitted for inpatient or outpatient services at the Biological Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health since the previous report. The total group included five men and five women, aged 30 to 58 years (mean,