Psychopathological Symptom Load and Distinguishable Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity Patterns in Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls: A Functional Transcranial Doppler Study

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, with executive dysfunction and impaired processing speed playing a pivotal role in the course of the disease. In patients with schizophrenia, neurocognitive deficits appear to be related to alterations in cerebral hemodynamics. It is not fully understood if psychopathological symptom load (i.e., presence and severity of symptoms) is also related to alterations in cerebral hemodynamics. We aim to study the relationship between psychopathological symptom load and cerebral hemodynamics in the Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA) during a cognitive task in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Methodology: Cerebral hemodynamics in the MCA were examined in 30 patients with schizophrenia and 15 healthy controls using functional Transcranial Doppler (fTCD) during the Trail Making Test (TMT). Psychopathological symptoms were measured using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Patients were dichotomized according to BPRS scores: mild-moderate (BPRS < 41, n = 15) or marked-severe (BPRS ≧ 41, n = 15). Mean blood flow velocity (MFV) in the MCA and processing speed of the TMT were analyzed. Cerebral hemodynamics were analyzed using the general additional model (GAM) with a covariate analysis of variance (ANCOVA) for group comparisons. Results: Patients and healthy controls were comparable regarding demographics. Patients had a slower processing speed for the TMT-A (patients-severe: 52s, patients-moderate: 40s, healthy-controls: 32s, p = 0.019) and TMT-B [patients-severe: 111s, patients-moderate: 76s, healthy-controls: 66s, p < 0.001)]. Patients demonstrated differing hemodynamic profiles in both TMTs: TMT- A [F((6, 1,792)) = 17, p < 0.000); TMT-B [F((6, 2,692)) = 61.93, p < 0.000], with a delay in increase in MFV and a failure to return to baseline values. Conclusions: Patients with schizophrenia demonstrated slower speeds of processing during both the TMT-A and TMT-B. The speed of processing deteriorated with increasing psychopathological symptom load, additionally a distinct cerebral hemodynamic pattern in the MCA was observed. Our results further support the view that severity of schizophrenia, particularly psychopathological symptom load, influences performance in neurocognitive tasks and is related to distinct patterns of brain hemodynamics.