Regional cerebral blood flow and P3 variables in patients with multiple lacunar infarcts

We measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and event-related potentials (ERPs) in 36 patients with multiple lacunar infarcts and 14 age-matched normal subjects. rCBF was measured by the 133Xe inhalation method. ERPs were recorded during visual discrimination tasks using three kinds of stimuli. The patients showed lower mean cortical blood flow than normal subjects especially for the frontal cortex. Nontarget P3 latency in patients was longer than in normal subjects, while no significant differences could be found in target P3 latency between the two groups. Nontarget P3 latency correlated with frontal CBF. These results show that frontal lobe dysfunction may be particularly marked with multiple lacunar infarcts and suggest that reduction of frontal CBF is related to the impairment of the automatic processing associated with the nontarget P3 component.