Symptom-severity-related brain connectivity alterations in functional movement disorders

NeuroImage: Clinical

卷:34

Filip Růžička¹  Pavel Dušek²  Tereza Serranová²  Matěj Slovák²  Robert Jech²  Petr Dušek²  Zuzana Forejtová²  Karsten Mueller³ 

[1] Corresponding authors at: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstr 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany (Karsten Mueller). Department of Neurology and Center of Clinical Neuroscience, Charles University in Prague, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Kateřinská 30, 120 00 Praha, Czech Republic (Tereza Serranová).;

[2] Department of Neurology and Center of Clinical Neuroscience, Charles University in Prague, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic;

[3] Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;

关键词: Functional movement disorders;    Motor conversion disorder;    Functional weakness;    Brain connectivity;    Functional connectivity;    Functional magnetic resonance imaging;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: Functional movement disorders, a common cause of neurological disabilities, can occur with heterogeneous motor manifestations including functional weakness. However, the underlying mechanisms related to brain function and connectivity are unknown. Objective: To identify brain connectivity alterations related to functional weakness we assessed network centrality changes in a group of patients with heterogeneous motor manifestations using task-free functional MRI in combination with different network centrality approaches. Methods: Task-free functional MRI was performed in 48 patients with heterogeneous motor manifestations including 28 patients showing functional weakness and 65 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Functional connectivity differences were assessed using different network centrality approaches, i.e. global correlation, eigenvector centrality, and intrinsic connectivity. Motor symptom severity was assessed using The Simplified Functional Movement Disorders Rating Scale and correlated with network centrality. Results: Comparing patients with and without functional weakness showed significant network centrality differences in the left temporoparietal junction and precuneus. Patients with functional weakness showed increased centrality in the same anatomical regions when comparing functional weakness with healthy controls. Moreover, in the same regions, patients with functional weakness showed a positive correlation between motor symptom severity and network centrality. This correlation was shown to be specific to functional weakness with an interaction analysis, confirming a significant difference between patients with and without functional weakness. Conclusions: We identified the temporoparietal junction and precuneus as key regions involved in brain connectivity alterations related to functional weakness. We propose that both regions may be promising targets for phenotype-specific non-invasive brain stimulation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown