Not lesser but Greater fractional anisotropy in adolescents with alcohol use disorders.

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine white matter microstructure using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in a sample of adolescents with alcohol use disorders (AUD) and no psychiatric or substance co-morbidity.

Methods: Fifty adolescents with AUD and fifty non-alcohol abusing controls matched on gender and age were studied with DTI, neurocognitive testing, and a clinical assessment that included measures of alcohol use and childhood trauma. Maps of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were computed, registered to a common template, and voxel-wise statistical analysis used to assess group differences.