Correlation of Neuropsychological Function With Cerebral Metabolic Rate in Subdivisions of the Frontal Lobes of Older Alcoholic Patients Measured With [¹⁸F]Fluorodeoxyglucose and Positron Emission Tomography

Literature concerning 2 clinical measures of concept formation, the Halstead Category Test (HCT) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), indicates that these 2 tests assess different aspects of concept formation and abstraction. We studied 37 older alcoholic patients on the HCT and WCST and measured their local cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (LCMRG) with [¹⁸ F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET) in the 3 principal frontal lobe subdivisions (cingulate, dorsolateral, and orbitomedial). Performance on the summary subtest (Subtest VII) of the HCT was correlated with LCMRG in all 3 frontal subdivisions, whereas the summary WCST measure of categories achieved was correlated only with LCMRG in the cingulate region. These findings suggest that abnormalities in functioning of the subdivisions of the frontal lobe may contribute to different aspects of the behavioral impairment seen in older alcoholic patients.