Citation

Semple WE, Goyer PF, McCormick R, Compton-Toth B, Morris E, Donovan B, Muswick G, Nelson D, Garnett ML, Sharkoff J, Leisure G, Miraldi F, Schulz SC. Psychiatry Res. 1996; 67(1): 17-28.

Affiliation

Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center (11B), Brecksville, OH 44141, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8797239

Abstract

Performance on an attentional task was assessed in posttraumatic stress disorder patients with substance abuse histories (PTSD-SA). Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to measure concurrent regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). Eight male PTSD-SA patients and eight normal subjects each received three serial PET scans with 15O-labeled water under the following conditions: (1) resting, (2) auditory continuous performance task (ACPT1), and (3) repeat auditory task (ACPT2). PTSD-SA patients made more errors of commission on the ACPT than normal subjects. Examination of right frontal and parietal cortex ACPT task substrates revealed decreased parietal blood flow in PTSD-SA, which may represent a pathophysiology for poor attentional task performance in PTSD-SA. Attentional problems may underlie other symptomatology in PTSD.

Language: en