PTSD group had changes suggestive of decreased local and global network efficiency

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161025113820.htm

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an MRI technique that measures the integrity of the brain’s white matter, was used to look at the brain’s connectome, or the map of the neural connections in the brain. The human connectome includes a series of nodes, or brain regions, linked by connections known as edges. Nodes with a relatively high number of edges are referred to as hubs.

“Generally speaking, the structural connectome and the functional connectome are based on different types of raw images, which may be used to investigate the brain’s abnormalities through different views,” said study lead author Qiyong Gong, M.D., Ph.D., from West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, China.

Using DTI results and graph theory, a relatively simple and widely used way of modeling the human brain connectome, the researchers were able find significant structural differences between the PTSD and non-PTSD groups. The PTSD group had changes suggestive of decreased local and global network efficiency due to damage or disconnection between linked regi