Network-level functional connectivity alterations in chemotherapy treated breast cancer patients: a longitudinal resting state functional MRI study

Cancer Imaging

Long Jiang Zhang¹  Yun Feng²  Zhao Shi³  Yun Fei Wang³  Li Juan Zheng³  Wei Huang⁴ 

[1] Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Clinical Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, 210002, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China;Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, 210002, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China;Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Clinical Hospital, Southern Medical University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, 210002, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China;Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Clinical Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, 210002, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China;Department of Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging Center, The Affiliated Huai’an No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 223300, Huai’an, Jiangsu, China;Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, 210002, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China;Department of Medical Imaging, Medical Imaging Center, The Affiliated Huai’an No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 223300, Huai’an, Jiangsu, China;

关键词: Breast cancer;    Chemotherapy;    Cognitive impairment;    Functional connectivity;    Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40644-020-00355-6

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPrevious studies have found abnormal structural and functional brain alterations in breast cancer survivors undergoing chemotherapy. However, the network-level brain changes following chemotherapy remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes of large-scale within- and between-network functional connectivity in chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients.MethodsSeventeen breast cancer patients were evaluated with resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), neuropsychological tests and blood examination before postoperative chemotherapy (t0), one week after completing chemotherapy (t1) and six months after completing chemotherapy (t2). Nineteen age- and education level-matched healthy controls (HC) were also recruited. Independent components analysis (ICA) was performed to assess network component using rs-fMRI data. The functional network changes were then correlated with cognitive assessment scores and blood biochemical indexes.ResultsOne-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significantly changed within-network functional connectivity in the anterior and posterior default mode network (ADMN and PDMN), left and right frontoparietal network (LFPN and RFPN), visual network and self-referential network. Post-hoc test showed that decreased within-network functional connectivity in ADMN, PDMN, LFPN, RFPN, SRN and central network one week after chemotherapy and increased six months after chemotherapy (all P < 0.05). As for the between-network functional connectivity, the PDMN- sensorimotor network connectivity showed the same tendency. Most of these within- and between-network functional connectivity changes were negatively associated with blood biochemical indexes and cognitive assessment scores (all P < 0.05).ConclusionsThese results indicated that chemotherapy may induce widespread abnormalities in resting state networks, which may serve as a potential biomarker of chemotherapy related cognitive impairment, providing insights for further functional recovery treatment.

【 授权许可】

CC BY