Optimized Voxel-Based Group Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging by means of Barycentric Linear Anisotropy

Introduction: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a non-invasive magnetic resonance method providing a measure of organization of white matter. It has gained increasing popularity to study disorders involving a potential neurodevelopmental origin and disruption of myelination. Employing DTI, altered integrity of the corpus callosum and frontostriatal tracts were reported in schizophrenia. The common quantification of anisotropy for voxel-based group analysis is the fractional anisotropy. This coefficient may be overestimated with low signal-to-noise ratios and may be inappropriate in situations of complex fiber cr…