title: Attention and regional cerebral blood flow in posttraumatic stress disorder patients with substance abuse histories.
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.
authors.affiliation: Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center (11B), Brecksville, OH 44141, USA.
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Semple
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Goyer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Compton-Toth
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Donovan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muswick
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Garnett
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sharkoff
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leisure
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miraldi
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Schulz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed