Study on the disruption of cerebral white matter integrity in schizophrenia with MR-DTI tractography

Abstract

We have analyzed cerebral white matter using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (MR-DTI) to find available indices for the quantitative evaluation of schizophrenia. Diffusion tensor images were acquired for patients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects, group-matched for age, sex, and handedness. Fiber tracking was performed on the inferior longitudinal and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi for the comparison between the patient and comparison groups. We have calculated the cross-sectional area on the starting coronal plane of tracking and the mean and standard deviation of the fractional anisotropy and the apparent diffusion coefficient along tracked fibers. These five indices were compared in the patient and comparison group and in the right and left hemispheres. As a result, in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus we found the standard deviation of the right apparent diffusion coefficient had significant difference between the patient and comparison groups. In the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus the mean and standard deviation of the apparent diffusion coefficient had significant differences. These results suggest that we may evaluate the disruption in white matter integrity in schizophrenic patients quantitatively by comparing the indices having significant differences in the patient and comparison groups. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.