The authors studied the relationship between lateral cerebral
ventricular size and regional cerebral blood flow during mental activation
in 30 patients with schizophrenia. Patients with large ventricles had
diffusely lower cortical gray matter blood flow than patients with small
ventricles. In addition, an inverse correlation between ventricular size
and prefrontal blood flow was observed while patients were attempting to
solve a neuropsychological test specifically related to the prefrontal
cortex. These data suggest that structural brain pathology impairs
prefrontal physiology in schizophrenia, implicating a neural mechanism for
the intellectual deficits characteristic of this disorder.
Abstract Teaser