engleski

Alteration of cerebral blood flow measured with SPECT in patients with first episode psychosis: a follow-up study

Objectives: To compare alterations of the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP) during acute phase of illness and after stable remission has been achieved. Secondary objective is to determine whether rCBF correlates with psychopathological status. Methods: We conducted a follow up study including 15 patients with FEP admitted at the Zagreb University Hospital Centre. The diagnosis was confirmed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Psychopathological status was rated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (Kay et al., 1977). rCBF was measured with SPECT. All assessments were performed at two time points: first at baseline during the acute phase of psychosis and second 12- 18 months later, when stable remission was established (Andreasen et al., 2005). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, repeated measures ANOVA, and bivariate correlation tests, from the SPSS statistical package, ver. 17.0. Results/Conclusion: Alterations of rCBF, mostly hypoperfusion were present in various brain regions in the acute phase of illness and in stable remission. However, one third of the patients in remission had improvement in blood flow compared to the initial finding. There was no statistically significant correlation between psychopathological status and rCBF in any of the measurements. Thus, alterations of rCBF may possibly indicate trait markers of the disorder, regardless of the specific phase of the disorder determined by psychiatric symptoms.

first episode psychosis, follow-up study, cerebral blood flow

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