PET studies of glucose metabolism in patients with schizophrenia.

The hypothesis of abnormal patterns of metabolism in schizophrenia was examined in a series of six young patients with psychotic symptoms satisfying the research diagnostic criteria. After intravenous injection of 11C-glucose obtained through a photosynthetic process, the regional activity of 11C in brain was measured with a four-ring positron camera. Regions of interest were obtained from computed tomographic images. Each patient underwent a second positron emission tomographic examinations after 4-5 weeks of treatment with a neuroleptic drug. No evidence of a hypofrontal pattern was found, but after treatment there was a reduced frontal uptake on the left side compared with temporal regions. The left-right asymmetry in the lentiform nucleus was reduced after treatment.