Abstract
Introduction: Many voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have reported white matter alternations in schizophrenia. However, a meta-analysis of VBM findings shows inconsistent results due to misalignment and smoothing problems. In order to solve the limitation in VBM approach, Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) is widely used in diffusion tensor imaging studies. The aim of this study is to review TBSS results regarding white matter tracts in schizophrenia.
Methods: We manually carried out electronic search of PubMed, Embase and CINAHL to explore impaired white matter tracts with TBSS approach in schizophrenia. All articles are English language containing the keywords: (1) “DTI” “TBSS” “white matter skeleton”, (2) “schizophrenia” “psychosis”.
Results: Whole-brain TBSS studies of schizophrenia that we found consistently reported areas with significantly lower FA in patients than controls including superior longitudinal fasciculus, external capsule and corpus callosum.
Conclusion: Studies with TBSS approach presented less broad areas for white matter impairments in patients compared to those of VBM analysis. The results tentatively suggest that local and global deficits in structural connections may be critically associated with alternations of brain network in schizophrenia.