White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients
The relation between auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and white matter has been studied, but results are still inconsistent. This inconsistency may be related to having only a single time-point of AVH assessment in many studies, not capturing that AVH severity fluctuates over time. In the curren...
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Diagnostics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/1/139 |
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| author | Justyna Beresniewicz Alexander R. Craven Kenneth Hugdahl Else-Marie Løberg Rune Andreas Kroken Erik Johnsen Renate Grüner |
| author_facet | Justyna Beresniewicz Alexander R. Craven Kenneth Hugdahl Else-Marie Løberg Rune Andreas Kroken Erik Johnsen Renate Grüner |
| author_sort | Justyna Beresniewicz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The relation between auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and white matter has been studied, but results are still inconsistent. This inconsistency may be related to having only a single time-point of AVH assessment in many studies, not capturing that AVH severity fluctuates over time. In the current study, AVH fluctuations were captured by utilizing a longitudinal design and using repeated (Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale) PANSS questionnaire interviews over a 12 month period. We used a Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging (MR DTI) sequence and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to explore white matter differences between two subtypes of schizophrenia patients; 44 hallucinating (AVH+) and 13 non-hallucinating (AVH-), compared to 13 AVH- matched controls and 44 AVH+ matched controls. Additionally, we tested for hemispheric fractional anisotropy (FA) asymmetry between the groups. Significant widespread FA-value reduction was found in the AVH+ group in comparison to the AVH- group. Although not significant, the extracted FA-values for the control group were in between the two patient groups, for all clusters. We also found a significant difference in FA-asymmetry between the AVH+ and AVH- groups in two clusters, with significantly higher leftward asymmetry in the AVH- group. The current findings suggest a possible qualitative difference in white matter integrity between AVH+ and AVH- patients. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:23:19Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4418 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:23:19Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Diagnostics |
| spelling | doaj.art-d81a185f7e8b436b9af0045639c0d52c2023-12-03T13:44:56ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182021-01-0111113910.3390/diagnostics11010139White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum PatientsJustyna Beresniewicz0Alexander R. Craven1Kenneth Hugdahl2Else-Marie Løberg3Rune Andreas Kroken4Erik Johnsen5Renate Grüner6Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, 5009 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, 5009 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, 5009 Bergen, NorwayNORMENT Center of Excellence, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, NorwayNORMENT Center of Excellence, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, NorwayNORMENT Center of Excellence, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, NorwayMohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Center, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, NorwayThe relation between auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and white matter has been studied, but results are still inconsistent. This inconsistency may be related to having only a single time-point of AVH assessment in many studies, not capturing that AVH severity fluctuates over time. In the current study, AVH fluctuations were captured by utilizing a longitudinal design and using repeated (Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale) PANSS questionnaire interviews over a 12 month period. We used a Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging (MR DTI) sequence and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to explore white matter differences between two subtypes of schizophrenia patients; 44 hallucinating (AVH+) and 13 non-hallucinating (AVH-), compared to 13 AVH- matched controls and 44 AVH+ matched controls. Additionally, we tested for hemispheric fractional anisotropy (FA) asymmetry between the groups. Significant widespread FA-value reduction was found in the AVH+ group in comparison to the AVH- group. Although not significant, the extracted FA-values for the control group were in between the two patient groups, for all clusters. We also found a significant difference in FA-asymmetry between the AVH+ and AVH- groups in two clusters, with significantly higher leftward asymmetry in the AVH- group. The current findings suggest a possible qualitative difference in white matter integrity between AVH+ and AVH- patients. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/1/139schizophreniahallucinationsdiffusion tensor imagingDTItract-based spatial statisticsfractional anisotropy |
| spellingShingle | Justyna Beresniewicz Alexander R. Craven Kenneth Hugdahl Else-Marie Løberg Rune Andreas Kroken Erik Johnsen Renate Grüner White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients Diagnostics schizophrenia hallucinations diffusion tensor imaging DTI tract-based spatial statistics fractional anisotropy |
| title | White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients |
| title_full | White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients |
| title_fullStr | White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients |
| title_full_unstemmed | White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients |
| title_short | White Matter Microstructural Differences between Hallucinating and Non-Hallucinating Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients |
| title_sort | white matter microstructural differences between hallucinating and non hallucinating schizophrenia spectrum patients |
| topic | schizophrenia hallucinations diffusion tensor imaging DTI tract-based spatial statistics fractional anisotropy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/1/139 |
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