RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Comprehensive and Broad Approach to Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Adult Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
JF American Journal of Neuroradiology
JO Am. J. Neuroradiol.
FD American Society of Neuroradiology
SP 637
OP 646
DO 10.3174/ajnr.A8193
VO 45
IS 5
A1 Arabshahi, Soroush
A1 Chung, Sohae
A1 Alivar, Alaleh
A1 Amorapanth, Prin X.
A1 Flanagan, Steven R.
A1 Foo, Farng-Yang A.
A1 Laine, Andrew F.
A1 Lui, Yvonne W.
YR 2024
UL http://www.ajnr.org/content/45/5/637.abstract
AB BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Several recent works using resting-state fMRI suggest possible alterations of resting-state functional connectivity after mild traumatic brain injury. However, the literature is plagued by various analysis approaches and small study cohorts, resulting in an inconsistent array of reported findings. In this study, we aimed to investigate differences in whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity between adult patients with mild traumatic brain injury within 1 month of injury and healthy control subjects using several comprehensive resting-state functional connectivity measurement methods and analyses.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 123 subjects (72 patients with mild traumatic brain injury and 51 healthy controls) were included. A standard fMRI preprocessing pipeline was used. ROI/seed-based analyses were conducted using 4 standard brain parcellation methods, and the independent component analysis method was applied to measure resting-state functional connectivity. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations was also measured. Group comparisons were performed on all measurements with appropriate whole-brain multilevel statistical analysis and correction.RESULTS: There were no significant differences in age, sex, education, and hand preference between groups as well as no significant correlation between all measurements and these potential confounders. We found that each resting-state functional connectivity measurement revealed various regions or connections that were different between groups. However, after we corrected for multiple comparisons, the results showed no statistically significant differences between groups in terms of resting-state functional connectivity across methods and analyses.CONCLUSIONS: Although previous studies point to multiple regions and networks as possible mild traumatic brain injury biomarkers, this study shows that the effect of mild injury on brain resting-state functional connectivity has not survived after rigorous statistical correction. A further study using subject-level connectivity analyses may be necessary due to both subtle and variable effects of mild traumatic brain injury on brain functional connectivity across individuals.BOLDblood oxygen level–dependentfALFFfractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuationsFDRfalse discovery rateICAindependent component analysisIFCNintrinsic functional connectivity networksmTBImild traumatic brain injuryNBSnetwork-based statisticsrs-FCresting-state functional connectivityrs-fMRIresting-state fMRISCAT3Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, 3rd editionSpatial-GICsSpatial Group Independent ComponentsTemporal-GICsTemporal Group Independent ComponentsTFCEthreshold-free cluster enhancement