PET-FDG Test-Retest Reliability During a Visual Discrimination Task in Schizophrenia

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Abstract
Reliability of assessment is important in any kind of neuropsychiatric study, but is particularly pivotal in schizophrenia research where symptom instability is common.Two fluorodeoxyglucose PET scans, 1 week apart, were carried out in schizophrenic patients while they were performing a simple visual discrimination task. Subject and scan conditions were held constant. Regional metabolic rates of glucose utilization were calculated as absolute and scaled; they were compared using correlational statistics.Average differences between scans were 5-9% for the parietal and occipital cortices, but 1-3% for other cortical areas, differences comparable with reported variances in normal controls.These results suggest that test-retest variance in metabolic imaging in schizophrenia is relatively low and that task performance increases metabolic stability in brain areas unrelated to task performance.

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