Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China.
Department of Radiology, the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China.
Neuroradiology. 2022 Jun;64(6):1201-1211. doi: 10.1007/s00234-022-02895-z. Epub 2022 Feb 7.
To investigate the specific features of static functional connectivity (SFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) of networks related to cognition in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD).
In this retrospective study, resting-state functional MRI data and a series of cognitive scores were obtained from 38 patients with SIVD and 23 normal controls. Independent component analysis, sliding window method, k-means clustering analysis and graph theory method were used to examine FC between the default mode network (DMN), dorsal attention network (DAN), frontoparietal network (FPN), salience network (SN) and executive control network (ECN) in patients with SIVD. Then, correlations between abnormal FC features and cognition were assessed.
Compared with normal controls, SFC within the DMN significantly increased and SFC between the DMN and DAN significantly decreased in patients with SIVD. The decreased DFC mainly occurred in weakly connected states, especially the DFC of the SN; but the increased DFC, global network efficiency and local network efficiency and the decreased mean dwell time (MDT) and frequency mainly occurred in strongly connected states in SIVD patients. Moreover, aberrant SFC, DFC and MDT were significantly correlated with patients' cognitive scores.
The overall results are suggestive of abnormal functional segregation and integration of SFC and DFC among networks related to cognition, especially in the SN. This may advance our comprehensive understanding of the abnormal changes in brain network connectivity in patients with SIVD. Our findings also highlight DFC may be an effective neuroimaging marker for the clinical diagnosis of SIVD.
探讨皮质下缺血性血管病（SIVD）患者认知相关网络静息态功能连接（SFC）和动态功能连接（DFC）的特定特征。
本回顾性研究纳入 38 例 SIVD 患者和 23 例正常对照，获取其静息态功能磁共振成像数据和一系列认知评分。采用独立成分分析、滑动窗口法、k-均值聚类分析和图论方法，检测 SIVD 患者默认模式网络（DMN）、背侧注意网络（DAN）、额顶叶网络（FPN）、突显网络（SN）和执行控制网络（ECN）之间的 FC。然后，评估异常 FC 特征与认知之间的相关性。
与正常对照组相比，SIVD 患者的 DMN 内 SFC 显著增加，DMN 与 DAN 之间的 SFC 显著降低。DFC 的减少主要发生在连接较弱的状态，特别是 SN 的 DFC；但在 SIVD 患者中，增加的 DFC、全局网络效率和局部网络效率以及减少的平均停留时间（MDT）和频率主要发生在连接较强的状态。此外，异常的 SFC、DFC 和 MDT 与患者的认知评分显著相关。
整体结果提示认知相关网络的 SFC 和 DFC 存在异常的功能分离和整合，尤其是在 SN 中。这可能有助于我们全面了解 SIVD 患者脑网络连接的异常变化。我们的研究结果还强调 DFC 可能是 SIVD 临床诊断的有效神经影像学标志物。
