Severe Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis is Associated with Robust Reductions in Homotopic Functional Connectivity

Publication date: Available online 20 November 2019Source: NeuroImage: ClinicalAuthor(s): Lei Gao, Tao Wang, Tianyi Qian, Feng Xiao, Lijun Bai, Junjian Zhang, Haibo XuAbstractSevere (> 70% narrowing) asymptomatic carotid stenosis (SACS) is associated with cognitive impairment and future strokes, and connectivity basis for the remote brain consequences is poorly understood. Here we explored homotopic connectivity and parenchymal lesions measured by multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters in patients with SACS. Twenty-four patients with SACS (19 males/ 5 females; 64.25 ± 7.18 years), 24 comorbidities-matched controls (19 males/ 5 females; 67.16 ±6.10 years), and an independent sample of elderly healthy controls (39 females/45 males; 57.92 ± 4.94 years) were included. Homotopic functional connectivity (FC) of resting-state functional MRI and structural connectivity (SC) of deterministic tractography were assessed. Arterial spin labeling based cerebral perfusion, susceptibility weighted imaging based microhemorrhagic lesions, and T2-weighted white matter hyperintensities were also quantified. Significant and robust homotopic reductions (validated by the independent dataset and support vector machine-based machine learning) were identified in the Perisylvian fissure in patients with SACS (false discovery rate corrected, p < 0.05). These involved regions span across several large-scale brain systems, which include the somatomotor, salience, dorsal attention, a...
Source: NeuroImage: Clinical - Category: Radiology Source Type: research