Vol 7 n° 1 - Early stages of schizophrenia
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5 0 Poster Functional neuroimaging in first-episode psychosis Methods Twenty-one inpatients (15 males/6 females) with an aver- age age of 23.7 years, who had been diagnosed with FEP according  to  DSM-IV-TR  (Diagnostic  and  Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition,Text Revision) criteria, were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). SPECT was acquired after injection   of 99mTc-HMPAO   (99mTc-hexamethylpropyl- eneamine oxime), before drug treatment and again after 3 months of treatment with either risperidone (mean dose 4.8 mg/day, in 7 patients with predominantly negative symptoms),  olanzapine  (mean  dose  11.6  mg/day,  in  9 patients with predominantly positive symptoms), and que- tiapine (mean dose 440 mg/day, in 5 patients with pre- dominantly positive symptoms). Exclusion criteria included the presence of a neurological or other somatic disorder that could modify rCBF, and previous exposure to antipsychotic drug treatment. Results Baseline SPECT assessments revealed a diffuse low per- fusion in the left parietal and temporal cortices, and in the right ventromedial frontal cortex, in 11 out of 14 patients with predominantly positive symptoms (Figures 1 and 2). In 6 out of 7 patients with predominantly nega- Copyright © 2005 LLS SAS. All rights reserved Figure 1. Baseline single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) shows reduced perfusion in the left parietal and temporal cortices in 11 out of 14 patients with predominantly positive symptoms. Figure 2. Baseline single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) shows reduced perfusion in the right ventromedial frontal cortex in 11 out of 14 patients with predominantly positive symptoms. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a valuable tool for evaluating regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with schizophrenia. Recently, various neuropharmacological studies using SPECT in patients with schizophrenia have also characterized dopamine D2 receptors, their correlation with symptoms, as well as receptor occupancy after treatment with atypical antipsychotics.1,2 We studied changes in rCBF in first-episode psychosis (FEP) before and after pharmacological treatment.