PET with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose measures of local brain activity and memory in schizophrenia and in depression

Positron emission tomography with [F-18] fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) scan has provided non-invasive measures of regional cerebral glucose utilization which are directly related with levels of functional activity in regions of the brain. The FDG technique was applied to the study of brain activity thought to be impaired in 6 chronic schizophrenics (SCH) and 6 depressed (D) patients in comparison with 6 healthy age-matched controls (C). Local cerebral metabolic rates of glucose utilization LCMRglc were determined for 8 regions in both left and right hemispheres and were expressed in reference to a person's mean CMRglc. Multivariate comparisons of the 16 measures showed no significant differences between the 3 groups; follow-up step-down analyses and t-tests failed to specify any regional or global LCMRglc reliable to separate patients from controls. They also did not differ in any of 18 multidimensional tests of memory and decision, except for lower delayed verbal recall in D patients. When both SCH and D were classified into those with CT large and those with CT small ventricles, there were no multivariate differences. Only partial LCMRglc separated large from small ventricle patients (F(1,7) = 6.12, p<0.042), but finding no multivariate significance makes this result questionable. The ventricular grouping of SCH alone may reveal a marginal difference in global CMRglc t(4) = 2.58, p<0.06, given a larger patient sample. In contrast to recent reports, indices to brain activity in schizophrenic and depressed patients do not seem to be abnormal