Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Hyperactivity

Abstract

In an interesting paper Zametkin et al. (Nov. 15 issue)¹ report the focal reduction of glucose metabolism in prefrontal brain regions in adults with "hyperactivity of childhood onset." The authors consider their findings consistent with our work with single-photon emission tomography in hyperkinetic children. We disagree. It is true that we also found a reduction of activity in prefrontal regions in most patients, but this regional difference failed to attain statistical significance when proper correction for multiple comparisons was made. Such a correction is lacking in the study by Zametkin et al. Our major finding was a consistently reduced activity of the anterior periventricular region, including the striatum.²