Characterizing Extracellular White Matter Pathologies Using Free Water Imaging Across the Schizophrenia Illness Course: A Multi-Site Harmonized Diffusion MRI Study

Abstract

Studies applying advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) methodologies, specifically Free Water Imaging, have found significant increases in extracellular free-water in populations of patients with early psychosis. However, prior work focused on the discrete stages of the illness with relatively small samples. In this study, we present the largest application of Free Water Imaging to patients with schizophrenia across the course of illness.