RELATIVE EFFICACY OF COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY AND RADIONUCLIDE SCAN IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF ORGANIC BRAIN-SYNDROME

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 15  (1) , 141-145
Abstract
Computerized tomography (CT) scan and radionuclide (Rn) scan findings on 77 psychiatric patients were compared to evaluate the relative efficacy of these 2 procedures in the diagnosis on intracranial disease. CT scan detected significant abnormalities in 23 patients (29.9%) while the Rn scan was positive in only 5 patients (6.5%). This is almost a 5-fold difference in the detection rate of abnormalities between the CT and Rn scan. Of the 77 patients 34 were diagnosed with organic brain syndrome (OBS) according to the criteria by Feighner et al. CT scan exclusively determined the contributing causes in 20 (58.8%) of these patients. None of the Rn studies could exclusively contribute to a diagnosis of OBS. The routine use of both diagnostic procedures hardly seems justifiable in terms of patient benefit and increased cost.

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