Diffusion tensor analysis in chronic schizophrenia A preliminary study on a high–field (3.0T) system

The objective of this study was to delineate further the nature of diffusion anisotropy abnormalities in frontal white matter previously observed in schizophrenic patients using a high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. Six schizophrenia patients and six healthy control subjects were examined using a highfield MRI (3.0T) system. In order to confirm previously reported abnormalities in anisotropy, data were first analyzed to determine fractional anisotropy (FA), a frequently utilized general index of anisotropy. Subsequently, the identical data set was subjected to lambda chart analysis (LCA), a newly developed algorithm for diffusion tensor analysis (DTA) that more effectively provides eigenvalue information. Frontal white matter FA was found to be significantly reduced in schizophrenic patients compared to control subjects, confirming previously reported findings. LCA revealed that the decline in FA was due to a disproportionate increase in small eigenvalue components, and not due to a decline in principal eigenvalue components.