Regional differentiation of cortical activity in schizophrenia: a complementary approach to conventional analysis of regional cerebral blood flow

Hypofrontality in schizophrenia: a meta‐analysis of functional imaging studies

“…Forty‐seven studies reported values for relative frontal blood flow/metabolism (10–12, 14, 32, 33, 35, 40–43, 47, 50–55, 57, 58–86). The pooled effect size for these was −0.24 (CI −0.34 to −0.15).…”

“…As with resting hypofrontality, separate meta‐analyses were carried out for studies reporting relative and absolute data. The pooled effect sizes were −0.45 (CI −0.60 to −0.30) for 18 relative studies (20, 58, 62, 64, 65, 70, 71, 76, 78, 91–100) and −0.42 (CI −0.65 to −0.20) for 10 absolute studies (17, 20, 39, 56, 62, 99, 101–104). The relative data were heterogeneous ( Q = 35.07, P = 0.006), but only one study had to be removed to achieve homogeneity [the combined studies of Weinberger et al (20, 100) which used the same control group].…”

“…the magnitude of the change from rest to activation in schizophrenic patients and in normal controls. Because only 14 studies reported both resting and activation data (17, 20, 39, 56, 58, 62, 64, 65, 70, 71, 76, 96, 99, 103) the absolute and relative studies were combined for this analysis. Schizophrenic patients increased their blood flow/metabolism insignificantly from rest: the pooled effect size was +0.14 (CI = −0.05 to +0.33), which fell to +0.03 (CI −0.16 to +0.23) in a homogeneous set of 12 studies [ Q (12) = 20.12, P = 0.06].…”

The cognitive neuropsychological understanding of persecutory delusions

“…For example, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) work has indicated right but not left frontal hypergyria (Narr, Bilder, Kim et al, 2004;Vogeley, Tepest, Pfeiffer et al, 2001). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) studies, which employ neuroimaging techniques to measure the blood supply to specific brain regions at given times, have also reported abnormal metabolism in right but not left frontal lobe in schizophrenia patients (Hook, Gordon, Lazzaro et al, 1995;Malaspina, Bruder, Furman, Gorman, Berman, & Van Heertum, 2000). But despite such findings of right frontal abnormalities in schizophrenia and despite the prominence of persecutory delusions in this disorder there is little consistent evidence of a direct link between right frontal dysfunction and persecutory delusions.…”