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Violence Research

SPECT Summary Table – Treatment Effects

# Patients

Author

Date of Study

Type

Age

Notes

13 antisocial personality disorder (APD)/13 schizophrenic with history of violence/15 schizophrenic w/o violent history/15 normals

Barkataki

2006

MRI

Adult

The finding of temporal lobe reductions prevalent among those with APD and hippocampal reduction in the violent men with schizophrenia contributes support for the importance of this region in mediating violent behavior.

10 with major depressive disorder and anger attacks (MDD+A)/10 normals

Dougherty

2006

PET

Adult

Results implicate striatal D1 receptor dysfunction in MDD+A and further suggest an association between dopaminergic transmission and anger or aggression.

13 schizophrenic with history of violence/12 schizophrenic w/o history of violence/10 antisocial personality disorder (APD) and history of violence/13 with no history of violence or mental disorder

Kumari

2006

fMRI

Adult

It is concluded that reduced functional response in the frontal and inferior parietal regions leads to serious violence in schizophrenia perhaps via impaired executive functioning.

10 male psychopaths/10 normals

Birbaumer

2005

fMRI

Adult

This dissociation of emotional and cognitive processing may be the neural basis of the lack of anticipation of aversive events in criminal psychopaths.

10 with impulsive aggression/10 normals

Frankle

2005

PET

Adult

Pathological impulsive aggressiveness might be associated with lower serotonergic innervation in the anterior cingulate cortex.

17 recently abstinent cocaine dependent/16 normals

Goldstein

2005

FDG-PET

Adult

Study confirms earlier reports in demonstrating a positive association between relative metabolism at rest in the LOFG and cognitive-behavioral and personality measures of inhibitory control in drug addiction: the higher the metabolism, the better the inhibitory control.

71 being exposed to violent media

Mathews

2005

fMRI

Children

Findings suggest that media violence exposure may be associated with alterations in brain functioning whether or not trait aggression is present.

30 aggressive AD/19 non-aggressive AD

Lanctot

2004

SPECT

Adult

In this sample of patients with AD, the right middle medial temporal region emerged as an important neural correlate of aggression.

10 impulsive aggressive patients with borderline personality disorder receiving SSRIs

New

2004

FDG-PET

Adult

Changes are consistent with a normalizing effect of fluoxetine on prefrontal cortex metabolism in impulsive aggressive disorder.

8 male perpetrators of domestic violence who fulfilled criteria for alcohol dependence/11 males who fulfilled criteria for alcohol dependence and no history of interpersonal aggression/10 normals

George

2004

PET

Adult

Findings show that some perpetrators of domestic violence differ from control participants in showing lower metabolism in the right hypothalamus and decreased correlations between cortical and subcortical brain structures.

6 male psychopaths/6 normals

Muller

2003

fMRI

Adult

Findings underline the hypotheses that psychopathy is neurobiologically reflected by deregulation and disturbed functional connectivity of emotion-related brain regions.

25 Croatian War veterans with combat-related PTSD and impulsive aggressiveness

Pavic

2003

SPECT

Adult

We believe that some PTSD symptoms, and especially the impulsive aggression, can be associated with increased regional cerebral blood flow in the projection area of nucleus accumbens.

2 with histories of unusually aggressive and antisocial behavior and temporal lobe masses

Nakaji

2003

MRI

Children

Tumors in the temporal lobe may be associated with behavioral problems, including aggression and rage attacks, which can be alleviated with surgical intervention.

24 non-psychotic, violent males with antisocial personality disorder (ASP) and type 2 alcoholism/33 normals

Laakso

2002

MRI

Adult

The observed volume deficits in this sample were related more to alcoholism or differences in education rather than to the diagnosis of ASP. No significant correlations between any of the volumes and the degree of psychopathy were found.

32 violent offenders

Soderstrom

2002

HMPAO/MRI

Adult

These findings in a group of violent offenders living under the same conditions add to the evidence indicating that aberrant frontotemporal activity may be a factor in violent behavior.

6 with intractable partial epilepsy and aggressive behavior

Juhasz

2001

FDG-PET

Children

Bilateral prefrontal and temporal neocortical brain glucose hypometabolism in children with epilepsy and aggressive behavior may indicate a widespread dysfunction of cortical regions, which normally exert an inhibitory effect on subcortical aggressive impulses.

12 with history of gelastic seizures and hypothalamic hamartomas

Weissenberger

2001

MRI/EEG

Children

Children with hypothalamic hamartomas and gelastic seizures had high rates of psychiatric comorbidity and aggression.

21 convicted of impulsive violent crimes/11 normals

Soderstrom

2000

HMPAO/MRI

Adult

Visual assessment of SPECT scans showed some hypoperfusion in the temporal and/or frontal lobes. MRI showed no corresponding structural damage.

20

Hirono

2000

HMPAO

Adult

Results indicated an association between aggression and decreased perfusion in the left anterior temporal cortex.

10 cocaine dependent men

Drexler

2000

PET

Adult

Study showed that cue-induced anger in cocaine-dependent men was associated with decreased activity in frontal cortical areas involved in response monitoring and inhibition.

25 temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with history of intermittent explosive disorder (IED)/25 TLE without a history of IED

van Elst

2000

MRI/EEG

Adult

IED was associated with left-sided or bilateral EEG and MRI abnormalities, low IQ and high scores in depression and anxiety.

24 temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with history of episodes of aggression/24 TLE without episodes of aggression/35 normals

Woermann

2000

MRI

Adult

Findings suggest that a reduction of frontal neocortical grey matter might underly the pathophysiology of aggression in TLE.

1 alcohol-induced violence

Amen

1999

SPECT

Adult

Study suggests that this man may have been “self-medicating” an overactive brain, but in the process induced a state that increased the likelihood for aggressive behavior.

141 children and a community sample of 36 children who were cruel to animals

Luk

1999

PET

Children

Being cruel to animals is possibly a marker of a subgroup of conduct disorder which has a poor prognosis.

1 affected by a severe neurological and psychopathological disorder

Pascual-Castroviejo

1999

MRI

Adult

Case shows the clear relationship between the bilateral frontal lesion and psychopathological disease, especially aggressivity and irritability.

21 impulsive violent offenders/10 non-violent alcoholics/21 normals

Kuikka

1998

123I-Beta-CIT SPECT

Both

In young violent offenders there was no normal left-to-right asymmetry observed in control subjects of the same age. The normalization of the left-to-right asymmetry may reflect late neurobiological maturation.

20 repetitive violent offenders (RVOs)/19 non-repetitive violent offenders

Wong

1997

PET/MRI

Adult

Different structural and metabolic changes in the brain were associated with different violent offending behaviors.

21 impulsive violent offenders/10 non-violent alcoholics/21 normals

Tiihonen

1997

123I-Beta-CIT SPECT

Adult

Results imply that habitual impulsive aggressive behavior in man is associated with a decrease in the 5-HT transporter density.

41 murderers pleading not guilty by reason of insanity(NGRI)/41 normals

Raine

1997

SPECT

Adult

Preliminary findings provide initial indications of a network of abnormal cortical and subcortical brain processes that may predispose to violence in murderers pleading NGRI.

7 with histories of extremely violent behavior

Seidenwurm

1997

FDG-PET

Adult

In this population of violent subjects, FDG-PET scans showed metabolic abnormalities in the temporal lobes. These abnormalities correlated with limbic abnormalities seen at electrophysiological and neuropsychiatric evaluation.

17 with repetitive violent history (RVO)/14 without a repetitive violent history (NRVO), all with schizophrenia/6 normals

Wong

1997

FDG-PET

Adult

Findings suggest that metabolic changes at AIT may be related to different patterns of violent offending in patients with schizophrenia.

40/40 normals

Amen

1996

SPECT

Adult

Findings indicate a possible cerebral perfusion profile for those who exhibit violent or aggressive behavior.

40 alcohol dependent including 15 with antisocial personality disorder (ASP)/10 normals

Kuruoglu

1996

SPECT/CT

Adult

Patients with ASP are more sensitive to toxic effects of alcohol. Alternatively chronic alcoholism leads to frontal lobe dysfunction recognized as ASP in the clinical setting.

1 with no past history of violent or criminal behavior abruptly strangled his wife

Relkin

1996

PET/MRI/EEG

Adult

Findings suggest that his violent behavior represents stimulus-bound aggression, triggered by a novel physical threat and unchecked by learned social restraints owing to the presence of ventral prefrontal dysfunction.

31 waiting trial or sentencing for murder

Blake

1995

MRI/CT/EEG

Adult

It is likely that prolonged, severe physical abuse, paranoia, and neurologic brain dysfunction interact to form the matrix of violent behavior.

19 habitually impulsive violent alcoholics/10 non-violent alcoholics/19 normals

Tiihonen

1995

123I-Beta-CIT SPECT

Adult

Results indicate that both types of alcoholics have alterations in striatal dopaminergic system, though these occur in opposite directions.

22 accused of murder/22 normals

Raine

1994

SPECT

Adult

These preliminary results suggest that deficits localized to the prefrontal cortex may be related to violence in a selected group of offenders.

36 with aggressive behavior following head injury

Oder

1992

SPECT

Adult

Results support the importance of lesion location in the production of post traumatic behavioral disorders.

2 with intermittent explosive disorder

Tonkonogy

1992

fMRI

Adult

It is suggested that hypothalamic lesions played a major role in the development of aggressive behavior in both cases.

23 with organic mental syndromes, 14 of which had violent behavior

Tonkonogy

1991

fMRI/CT

Adult

The release of programs for violent behavior may result from the unilateral destruction of amygdaloid nuclei or adjacent structures coupled with the paroxysmal stimulation of preserved limbic structures by the mechanisms of kindling.

4 with a history of repetitive purposeless violent behavior

Volkow

1987

PET/EEG/CT

Adult

PET showed evidence of blood flow and metabolic abnormalities in the left temporal lobe. The patients showing the largest defects with PET were those whose CT scans were reported as normal. This paper shows the utility of PET in investigating possible brain derangements that could lead to violent behavior.







Total Patients

Total Authors

Total Studies




1,468

35

41




 

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