Microstructural Organization of Cerebellar Tracts in Schizophrenia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dysconnectivity theories of schizophrenia would suggest that the connectivity of the cerebellum is impaired and that the impairment may be restricted to certain tracts. Attempts to examine the structural connectivity of the cerebellum using diffusion tensor imaging have yielded conflicting results. However, previous studies have employed region-of-interest approaches or have used small or unmatched samples, with a consequent risk of type II error. METHODS: We conducted an appropriately powered case-control study of 33 patients with schizophrenia and 33 matched healthy control subjects. We used tractography to dissect the four white matter tracts of the cerebellum and measured fra..