Department of Internal medicine, Haeundae Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Department of Radiology, Haeundae Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Brain Behav. 2018 Jun;8(6):e01006. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1006. Epub 2018 May 23.
We evaluated global topology and organization of regional hubs in the brain networks and microstructural abnormalities in the white matter of patients with reflex syncope.
Twenty patients with reflex syncope and thirty healthy subjects were recruited, and they underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans. Graph theory was applied to obtain network measures based on extracted DTI data, using DSI Studio. We then investigated differences in the network measures between the patients with reflex syncope and the healthy subjects. We also analyzed microstructural abnormalities of white matter using tract-based spatial statistics analysis (TBSS).
Measures of global topology were not different between patients with reflex syncope and healthy subjects. However, in reflex syncope patients, the strength measures of the right angular, left inferior frontal, left middle orbitofrontal, left superior medial frontal, and left middle temporal gyrus were lower than in healthy subjects. The betweenness centrality measures of the left middle orbitofrontal, left fusiform, and left lingual gyrus in patients were lower than those in healthy subjects. The PageRank centrality measures of the right angular, left middle orbitofrontal, and left superior medial frontal gyrus in patients were lower than those in healthy subjects. Regarding the analysis of the white matter microstructure, there were no differences in the fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity values between the two groups.
We have identified a reorganization of network hubs in the brain network of patients with reflex syncope. These alterations in brain network may play a role in the pathophysiologic mechanism underlying reflex syncope.
我们评估了反射性晕厥患者大脑网络中的全局拓扑结构和区域枢纽的组织以及白质的微观结构异常。
招募了 20 名反射性晕厥患者和 30 名健康受试者，并对他们进行了弥散张量成像（DTI）扫描。使用 DSI Studio 从提取的 DTI 数据中获得网络度量，应用图论。然后，我们研究了反射性晕厥患者和健康受试者之间网络度量的差异。我们还使用基于束的空间统计学分析（TBSS）分析了白质的微观结构异常。
反射性晕厥患者和健康受试者的全局拓扑度量没有差异。然而，在反射性晕厥患者中，右侧角回、左侧下额回、左侧中眶额回、左侧上内侧额回和左侧中颞回的强度度量低于健康受试者。患者左侧中眶额回、左侧梭状回和左侧舌回的介数中心度低于健康受试者。患者右侧角回、左侧中眶额回和左侧上内侧额回的 PageRank 中心度低于健康受试者。关于白质微观结构的分析，两组的各向异性分数和平均弥散度值没有差异。
我们已经确定了反射性晕厥患者大脑网络中网络枢纽的重新组织。这些大脑网络的改变可能在反射性晕厥的病理生理机制中发挥作用。
