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Abstract #3559

Motor Impairment in Schizophrenics: A Combined fMRI and VBM Study

Sadhana Singh1, Satnam Goyal2, Shilpi Modi1, Pawan Kumar1, Namita Singh1, Tripish Bhatia3, Smita N. Deshpande3, Subash Khushu1

1NMR Research Centre, INMAS, Delhi, India; 2Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER,, New Delhi, Delhi, India; 3Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER, New Delhi, Delhi, India


Schizophrenia is a psychotic mental disorder, characterized by disturbances of thought, behaviour and social interactions. Various studies have shown structural and functional changes in schizophrenics separately using VBM and fMRI techniques. But the relation between structural and functional alterations in schizophrenia remains unclear. The present study was carried out to investigate whether functional alterations in schizophrenia are associated with structural brain aberrations, directly in brain regions or in anatomically closely connected areas, using simple motor task. The study suggests motor impairment in schizophrenic subjects as compared to healthy controls using simple motor task which was well supported by VBM results.