TEMPORAL-LOBE DYSFUNCTION AND CORRELATION OF REGIONAL CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW ABNORMALITIES WITH PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND MAJOR DEPRESSION - A STUDY WITH SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY

Studies of regional cerebral bood flow in both schizophrenic and depre ssed patients have yielded contradictory findings. Single photon emiss ion computed tomography (SPECT) was used to compare brain-perfusion pa tterns in 17 patients with schizophrenia and 12 patients with major de pression and to evaluate the relationship of the findings to psychopat hology. The images were analyzed both visually and quantitatively. Twe lve of the 17 schizophrenic patients and 8 of the 12 depressed patient s showed a pathological blood flow pattern. Hypoperfusion of the left temporal lobe was observed in seven of the schizophrenic and five of t he depressed patients, Five of the schizophrenic patients also had a h ypoperfusion of the left frontal lobe. Separation of both diagnostic c ohorts in two subgroups with pathological and normal cerebral blood fl ow patterns revealed significantly higher levels of symptomatology in the group with hypoperfusion in the SPECT image. The analysis of diffe rent cerebral regions revealed statistically significant correlations in schizophrenic patients between left frontal hypoperfusion and negat ive symptoms, In contrast, left temporal hypoperfusion was significant ly related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia. Our data suggest tha t left-sided temporal lobe dysfunction is related both to schizophreni a and major depression. The localization of hypoperfusion seems to be associated with the type of psychopathology (positive vs. negative sym ptoms in schizophrenia). Thus; the results support the model of parali mbic and prefrontal dysfunction in both diseases. Copyright (C) 1996 E lsevier Science Ireland Ltd.