Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Dec 1993
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex dysfunction in the major psychoses; symptom or disease specificity?
Neurophysiological deficits in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) have been described in positron emission tomography studies of schizophrenia and depression. In schizophrenia and depression this deficit has been associated with the syndromes of psychomotor poverty and psychomotor retardation, respectively. Such findings lead to a prediction that DLPFC dysfunction is symptom rather than disease related. ⋯ Patients with poverty of speech had significantly lower rCBF in the left DLFPC. This reduction of rCBF was independent of diagnosis. The findings support the view that the study of symptoms, or symptom clusters, can provide information additional to that of traditional diagnostic systems in the study of the major psychoses.