CORRELATION OF REGIONAL CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW EQUIVALENTS MEASURED BY SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTERIZED-TOMOGRAPHY WITH P300 LATENCY AND EYE-MOVEMENT ABNORMALITY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Single photon emission tomography with the intravenous blood flow mark er Tc-99m-exametazime was carried out in 14 acutely ill drug-free schi zophrenic patients from whom P300 event-related potential, smooth eye pursuit eye tracking and verbal fluency were measured within a few day s of scanning. Smooth pursuit eye movement abnormality correlated sign ificantly with abnormal tracer uptake in superior pre-frontal cortex o n the right and left and inferior pre-frontal cortex on the left. Abno rmal eye movement was also associated with higher tracer uptake in lef t anterior cingulate and left posterior cingulate. P300 latency was si gnificantly correlated with higher tracer uptake in left superior pre- frontal and left parietal regions. Verbal fluency performance was nega tively correlated with tracer uptake in left frontal region. Eye track ing abnormality in schizophrenia is associated with bilateral frontal lobe disturbance and P300 latency increase with left-sided frontal and temporoparietal dysfunction. There was, however, a significant invers e relation between eye tracking abnormalities and abnormal perfusion i n the left anterior cingulate region.