PET-FDG TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY DURING A VISUAL-DISCRIMINATION TASK IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Objective: Reliability of assessment is important in any kind of neuropsychiatric study, but is particularly pivotal in schizophrenia research where symptom instability is common. Materials and Methods: Two fluorodeoxyglucose PET scans, 1 week apart, were carried out in schizophrenic patients while they were performing a simple visual discrimination task. Subject and scan conditions were held constant. Regional metabolic rates of glucose utilization were calculated as absolute and scaled; they were compared using correlational statistics. Results: Average differences between scans were 5-9% for the parietal and occipital cortices, but 1-3% for other cortical areas, differences comparable with reported variances in normal controls. Conclusion: These results suggest that test-retest variance in metabolic imaging in schizophrenia is relatively low and that task performance increases metabolic stability in brain areas unrelated to task performance.