Cerebral blood flow alterations specific to auditory verbalhallucinations in schizophrenia

BackgroundAuditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) have been associated with deficitsin auditory and speech-related networks. However, the resting-statecerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations specific to AVHs in schizophreniaremain unknown.AimsTo explore AVH-related CBF alterations in individuals withschizophrenia.MethodIn total, 35 individuals with schizophrenia with AVHs, 41 individualswith schizophrenia without AVHs and 50 controls underwent arterial spinlabelling magnetic resonance imaging. The CBF differences were voxel-wisecompared across the three groups.ResultsWe found AVH-specific CBF increase in the right superior temporal gyrusand caudate, and AVH-specific CBF decrease in the bilateral occipital andleft parietal cortices. We also observed consistent CBF changes in bothschizophrenia subgroups (i.e. those with and without AVHs) includingdecreased CBF in the bilateral occipital regions, the left lateralprefrontal and insular cortices, and the right anterior cingulate cortexand increased CBF in the bilateral lateral temporal regions and putamen,the left middle cingulate cortex and the right thalamus.ConclusionsThe AVH-specific CBF increases in the auditory and striatal areas and CBFreductions in the visual and parietal areas suggest that there exists aCBF redistribution associated with AVHs.