Sandberg Chaleece W
Adult Neuroplasticity Laboratory, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Penn State University University Park, PA, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2017 Feb 28;11:91. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00091. eCollection 2017.
Aphasia is a language disorder affecting more than one million people in the US. While language function has traditionally been the focus of neuroimaging research, other cognitive functions are affected in this population, which has implications not only for those specific processes but also for the interaction of language and other cognitive functions. Resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) is a practical and informative way to explore and characterize general cognitive engagement and/or health in this population, but it is currently underutilized. The aim of this study was to explore the functional connectivity in resting state networks (RSNs) and in the semantic network in seven persons with aphasia (PWA) who were at least 6 months post onset compared with 11 neurologically healthy adults (NHA) in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of general cognitive engagement in aphasia. These preliminary results show that PWA exhibit hypoconnectivity in the semantic network and all RSNs except the visual network. Compared with NHA, PWA appear to have fewer cross- and left-hemispheric connections. However, PWA exhibit some stronger connections than NHA within the semantic network, which could indicate compensatory mechanisms. Importantly, connectivity for RSNs appear to increase with decreasing aphasia severity and decrease with increasing lesion size. This knowledge has the potential to improve aphasia therapy by furthering the understanding of lesion effects on the cognitive system as a whole, which can guide treatment target selection and promotion of favorable neural reorganization for optimal recovery of function.
失语症是一种语言障碍，在美国影响着超过100万人。虽然语言功能传统上一直是神经影像学研究的重点，但这一人群的其他认知功能也受到影响，这不仅对那些特定的过程有影响，而且对语言和其他认知功能的相互作用也有影响。静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）是探索和表征这一人群的一般认知参与和/或健康状况的一种实用且信息丰富的方法，但目前尚未得到充分利用。本研究的目的是探索7名失语症患者（PWA）在发病至少6个月后的静息态网络（RSN）和语义网络中的功能连接，与11名神经健康的成年人（NHA）进行比较，以便更全面地了解失语症中的一般认知参与情况。这些初步结果表明，PWA在语义网络和除视觉网络外的所有RSN中表现出连接不足。与NHA相比，PWA的跨半球和左半球连接似乎更少。然而，PWA在语义网络中表现出比NHA更强的一些连接，这可能表明存在代偿机制。重要的是，RSN的连接性似乎随着失语症严重程度的降低而增加，随着病变大小的增加而降低。这些知识有可能通过进一步了解病变对整个认知系统的影响来改善失语症治疗，这可以指导治疗靶点的选择，并促进有利的神经重组以实现功能的最佳恢复。
