Volume of the amygdala, hippocampus, Heschl's gyrus, and planum temporale in epileptic psychosis

Noriaki Hirakawa; Naoya Oribe; Yoji Hirano; Osamu Togao; Kousei Ishigami; Toshiaki Onitsuka; Shogo Hirano; Tomohiro Nakao

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2025.112081

Volume of the amygdala, hippocampus, Heschl's gyrus, and planum temporale in epileptic psychosis

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2025 Dec:354:112081. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2025.112081. Epub 2025 Nov 3.

Authors

Noriaki Hirakawa¹, Naoya Oribe², Yoji Hirano³, Osamu Togao⁴, Kousei Ishigami⁴, Toshiaki Onitsuka⁵, Shogo Hirano⁶, Tomohiro Nakao⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. Electronic address: hirakawa.noriaki.319@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
² UNB Sumiyoshi-jinja-mae clinic, 4-5-3 Sumiyoshi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka 812-0018, Japan.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, 5200 Kihara, Kiyotake-cho, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan; Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
⁵ NHO Sakakibara National Hospital, 777 Sakakibara-cho, Tsu, Mie 514-1292, Japan.
⁶ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.

PMID: 41202778
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2025.112081

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia and chronic interictal epileptic psychosis (EPS) are thought to have different underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. We aimed to investigate the neural basis of EPS.

Methods: T1-weighted images were analyzed in 16 patients with EPS, 16 strictly matched patients with epilepsy only (EP), and 16 healthy control subjects (HS). We conducted structural magnetic resonance imaging analyses using a manual drawing method of several regions of interest (ROIs): the amygdala, hippocampus, Heschl's gyrus, and planum temporale.

Results: Results revealed that both the EP and EPS groups exhibited significantly lower hippocampal volumes than the HS group (p = 0.008). There were no significant differences in the volume of any ROI between the EP and EPS groups.

Conclusions: Our ROI analyses indicated that the hippocampus is affected by epilepsy but the amygdala, hippocampus, Heschl's gyrus, and planum temporale may not be crucial for generating EPS.

Keywords: Chronic interictal epileptic psychosis; Heschl’s gyrus; Hippocampus; MRI.

MeSH terms

Adult
Amygdala* / pathology
Epilepsy* / complications
Epilepsy* / pathology
Female
Hippocampus* / pathology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Psychotic Disorders* / pathology
Temporal Lobe* / pathology
Young Adult