Research view
Title: | Assessment of cognitive functions and cerebral blood flow in patients with schizophrenia |
Author: | Yasser Elserogy, Ahmed A. Abdelrahman, Mostafa M. Noaman, Ghydaa A. Shehata and Hosam Khalifa |
Abstract: |
Introduction
Although recent efforts have been undertaken to investigate the aspects of short-term
cerebral hemodynamics during cognitive challenge in schizophrenia, there are, to the
best of our knowledge, no reports on cerebral hemodynamics during prefrontal
function.
Objective
This aim of this study was to assess cognitive functions and measure cerebral blood
flow (CBF) in patients with schizophrenia.
Patients and methods
Fifty adult inpatients (33 male and 17 female) participated in the study. They were
referred from the outpatient clinic of psychiatry at Assiut University Hospital. All
patients’ guardians provided written consent for their patients to participate in the
study after full explanation of the study procedures was provided. All patients met the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed., Text Revision,
diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. The control group comprised 25 adults (aged
20–40 years; 14 male and 11 female) who volunteered to participate in the study. They
were selected from general population and matched with the patient group for age,
sex, and socioeconomic state, and were relatives of other patients in the outpatient
clinic in Assiut University Hospital rather than the neuropsychiatric clinic. All patients
and controls were subjected to the following after written informed consent was
obtained from each first-degree relative for his or her patient: (a) psychiatric interview,
(b) Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, (c) soft neurological sign assessment using
Cambridge Neurology Inventory, (d) transcranial Doppler sonography, and (e)
Cognitive Ability Screening Instrument.
Results
There was an increased frequency of each of the neurological soft sign scores
measured using Cambridge Neurological Inventory part II among schizophrenic
patients, especially motor coordination and motor sequencing and their correlation
with predominance of negative symptoms. The evaluation of mean velocity of CBF in
the middle cerebral artery, anterior cerebral artery, and basilar artery using transcranial
Doppler revealed no significant difference between the patient and control groups,
except for basilar artery, which had a statistical minimal significance. However, there
was a correlation between positive symptoms and increased CBF as well as between
negative symptoms and decreased CBF. Cognitive functions that were highly affected
in schizophrenic patients were short term memory, orientation, mental manipulation,
concentration, abstract thinking, judgment, drawing, and fluency, whereas long term
memory and attention were affected to a lesser extent in schizophrenic patients. There
was no effect on language function; it was affected by predominance of negative
symptoms.
Conclusion
We found that most patients with schizophrenia have moderate-to-marked cognitive
dysfunctions. We also found a positive correlation between positive symptoms and
increased CBF and between negative symptoms and decreased CBF.
Keywords:
cerebral blood flow, cognitive functions, schizophrenia
|
Journal: | Middle East Curr Psychiatry 24:36–42 |
Text: | |
Download |