Alteration of rCBF in Alzheimer's disease patients with delusions of theft

We investigated the neural substrate of the delusion of theft in patients w ith Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nine AD patients with only one type of delusi on (delusions of theft) and nine age, cognitive function-matched AD patient s without any type of delusions were selected from 334 consecutive outpatie nts of Ehime University Hospital. All subjects underwent Tc-99m-HMPAO SPECT scanning, and SPECT images were analyzed by Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM). AD patients with delusions of theft showed significant hypoperfusio n in the right medial posterior parietal region compared to patients withou t delusions. Our data suggest that attention impairment or lack of awarenes s of illness caused by right parietal dysfunction might play a role in prod ucing the delusion of theft. NeuroReport 12:2473-2476 (C) 2001 Lippincott W illiams & Wilkins.