Testing for brain anomalies: A hippocampus study

A mathematical classification method is presented to show how numerical tests for abnormal anatomical shape change can be used to study geometrical shape changes of the hippocampus in relation to the occurrence of schizophrenia. The method uses the well-known best Bayesian decision rule for two simple hypotheses. Furthermore, the technique is illustrated by applying the hypothesis testing method to some preliminary hippocampal data. The data pool available for the experiment consisted of 10 subjects, five of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia and five of whom were not schizophrenics. Even though the information used in the experiment is limited and the number of subjects is relatively small, we are confident that the mathematical classification method presented is of significance and can be used successfully, given proper data, as a diagnostic tool.