Blood perfusion in left inferior and middle frontal gyrus predicts communication skills in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating mental disorders, severely affecting patients ’ community functioning. Functional capacity (FC) describes the skills necessary for successful functional outcome (FO), such as financial knowledge or communication skills. We investigated whether resting-state cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measured at baseline with arterial spin labeling (ASL) woul d predict FC or FO at a 6-months follow-up in 27 schizophrenia patients. A negative linear association was noted between FC and rCBF in the left inferior and middle frontal gyrus, areas involved in language processing, suggesting a potential relationship between cerebral perfusion and prospective FC in schizophrenia.
Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: research