Regional cerebral blood flow in male schizophrenic patients performing an auditory discrimination task

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 11 schizophrenic patients and 10 normal controls, both at rest and while performing an auditory discrimination task. Single photon emission computed tomography with technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime was used for quantitative evaluation of rCBF. The schizophrenic patients showed greater rCBF in the temporal and parietal regions at rest than the controls, but no abnormalities were found in frontal perfusion. During task performance, on the other hand, the patients showed a reduced frontal rCBF, whereas there was no group difference in rCBF in the temporal and parietal regions. In addition, the left > right hemisphere asymmetries of rCBF observed in the controls during task performance were not present in the patients, although there was no group difference in hemisphere laterality in rCBF at rest. These findings suggest that the employment of a cognitive task for neuroimaging studies is useful for detecting abnormalities of brain activation, such as hypofrontality and altered hemisphere laterality, in patients with schizophrenia. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.