Spatiotemporal consistency analysis of cerebral small vessel disease: an rs-fMRI study

TL;DR

This study uses a new method to analyze brain activity in patients with cerebral small vessel disease and finds changes linked to cognitive decline.

Contribution

The study introduces the FOCA method to examine spatiotemporal neural activity in cerebral small vessel disease.

Findings

FOCA values decreased in the right frontal_inf_oper and default mode network in SVD patients.

FOCA values increased in the hippocampus and cerebellum in SVD patients.

Most altered brain regions showed negative correlations with SVD scores.

Abstract

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) affects older adults, but traditional approaches have limited the understanding of the neural mechanisms of SVD. This study aimed to explore the effects of SVD on brain regions and its association with cognitive decline using the four-dimensional (spatiotemporal) consistency of local neural activity (FOCA) method.

Magnetic resonance imaging data from 42 patients with SVD and 38 healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed using the FOCA values. A two-sample t test was performed to compare the differences in FOCA values in the brain between the HCs and SVD groups. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the association of various brain regions with SVD scores.

The results revealed that the FOCA values in the right frontal_inf_oper, right temporal_pole_sup, and default mode network decreased, whereas those in the temporal_inf, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum increased, in patients with SVD. Most of these varying brain regions were negatively correlated with SVD scores.

This study suggested that the FOCA approach might have the potential to provide useful insights into the understanding of the neurophysiologic mechanisms of patients with SVD.

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