Abnormal intrinsic brain functional network dynamics in patients with retinal detachment based on graph theory and machine learning.

BACKGROUND

and purpose: The investigation of functional plasticity and remodeling of the brain in patients with retinal detachment (RD) has gained increasing attention and validation. However, the precise alterations in the topological configuration of dynamic functional networks are still not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the topological structure of dynamic brain functional networks in RD patients.

METHODS

We recruited 32 patients with RD and 33 healthy controls (HCs) to participate in resting-state fMRI. Employing the sliding time window analysis and K-means clustering method, we sought to identify dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) variability patterns in both groups. The investigation into the topological structure of whole-brain functional networks utilized a graph theoretical approach. Furthermore, we employed machine learning analysis, selecting altered topological properties as classification features to distinguish RD patients from HCs.

RESULTS

All participants exhibited four distinct states of dynamic functional connectivity. Compared to the healthy control (HC) group, patients with RD experienced a significant reduction in the number of transitions among these four states. Additionally, the dynamic topological properties of RD patients demonstrated notable changes in both global and node-specific characteristics, with these changes correlating with clinical parameters. The support vector machine (SVM) model used for classification achieved an accuracy of 0.938, an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.988, and both sensitivity and specificity of 0.937.

CONCLUSION

The alterations in the topological properties of the brain in RD patients may indicate the integration function and information exchange efficiency of the whole brain network were reduced. In addition, the topological properties hold considerable promise for distinguishing between RD and HCs.