Korean Journal of Radiology

The Korean Society of Radiology (대한영상의학회)
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Longitudinal Intrinsic Brain Activity Changes in Cirrhotic Patients before and One Month after Liver Transplantation

  • Cheng, Yue (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Huang, Li-Xiang (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Zhang, Li (Department of Transplantation Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Ma, Ming (Department of Transplantation Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Xie, Shuang-Shuang (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Ji, Qian (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Zhang, Xiao-Dong (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Zhang, Gao-Yan (School of Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cognitive Computing and Application, Tianjin University) ;
  • Zhang, Xue-Ning (Department of Radiology, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University) ;
  • Ni, Hong-Yan (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital) ;
  • Shen, Wen (Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital)
  • Received : 2016.04.11
  • Accepted : 2016.10.08
  • Published : 2017.04.01
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Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the spontaneous brain activity alterations in liver transplantation (LT) recipients using resting-state functional MRI. Materials and Methods: Twenty cirrhotic patients as transplant candidates and 25 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. All patients repeated the MRI study one month after LT. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values were compared between cirrhotic patients (both pre- and post-LT) and HCs as well as between the pre- and post-LT groups. The relationship between ALFF changes and venous blood ammonia levels and neuropsychological tests were investigated using Pearson's correlation analysis. Results: In the cirrhotic patients, decreased ALFF in the vision-related regions (left lingual gyrus and calcarine), sensorimotor-related regions (left postcentral gyrus and middle cingulate cortex), and the default-mode network (bilateral precuneus and left inferior parietal lobule) were restored, and the increased ALFF in the temporal and frontal lobe improved in the early period after LT. The ALFF decreases persisted in the right supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobule, and calcarine. The ALFF changes in the right precuneus were negatively correlated with changes in number connection test-A scores (r = 0.507, p < 0.05). Conclusion: LT improved spontaneous brain activity and the results for associated cognition tests. However, decreased ALFF in some areas persisted, and new-onset abnormal ALFF were possible, indicating that complete cognitive function recovery may need more time.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : National Natural Science Foundation of China

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