Nadine Akbar1,2, Brenda Banwell3, John G Sled1,4, Malcolm A Binns5,6, Sam M Doesburg1,2, Bart Rypma7, Magdalena Lysenko8, Christine Till8. 1. a Neurosciences and Mental Health Program , Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children , Toronto , ON , Canada. 2. b Institute of Medical Science , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada. 3. c Department of Neurology , Children's Hospital of Philadelphia , Philadelphia , PA , USA. 4. d Department of Medical Biophysics , University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada. 5. e Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre , Toronto , ON , Canada. 6. f Dalla Lana School of Public Health , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada. 7. g Department of Psychiatry , University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre , Dallas , TX , USA. 8. h Department of Psychology , York University , Toronto , ON , Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the extent and pattern of brain activation elicited by a functional magnetic resonance imaging version of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (fMRI-SDMT), a task of information processing speed, in pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) patients as compared to sex- and age-matched non-MS self-reported healthy individuals. METHOD: Participants included 20 right-handed individuals aged 13-24 years with pediatric-onset MS (mean age = 19 years, 15 female) and 16 non-MS self-reported healthy individuals. All participants underwent a 3.0-tesla MRI scan with structural (T1; T2; proton density, PD; fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, FLAIR) and fMRI-SDMT acquisition. Participants were instructed to indicate with a button press whether a single pairing of a symbol to a number matched any of those shown in a key that displays nine possible pairings. RESULTS: Response time (p = .909) and accuracy (p = .832) on the fMRI-SDMT did not differ between groups. However, the MS group demonstrated lower overall activation than the non-MS group in the right middle frontal gyrus (p = .003). Within the MS group, faster response time was associated with greater activation of the right inferior occipital, anterior cingulate, right superior parietal, thalamus, and left superior occipital cortices (all p < .05). A significant interaction effect was demonstrated, indicating that faster response time was associated with greater activation of the left superior occipital region in the pediatric MS group than in the non-MS group (p = .002). CONCLUSIONS: Attenuated activation of frontal regions was observed in this cohort of pediatric-onset MS patients when performing the fMRI-SDMT, even in the absence of behaviorally detectable deficits. Within the MS group only, faster response time elicited greater activation, suggesting this to be an adaptive mechanism that may contribute to limiting the impact of disease-related structural pathology.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the extent and pattern of brain activation elicited by a functional magnetic resonance imaging version of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (fMRI-SDMT), a task of information processing speed, in pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) patients as compared to sex- and age-matched non-MS self-reported healthy individuals. METHOD:Participants included 20 right-handed individuals aged 13-24 years with pediatric-onset MS (mean age = 19 years, 15 female) and 16 non-MS self-reported healthy individuals. All participants underwent a 3.0-tesla MRI scan with structural (T1; T2; proton density, PD; fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, FLAIR) and fMRI-SDMT acquisition. Participants were instructed to indicate with a button press whether a single pairing of a symbol to a number matched any of those shown in a key that displays nine possible pairings. RESULTS: Response time (p = .909) and accuracy (p = .832) on the fMRI-SDMT did not differ between groups. However, the MS group demonstrated lower overall activation than the non-MS group in the right middle frontal gyrus (p = .003). Within the MS group, faster response time was associated with greater activation of the right inferior occipital, anterior cingulate, right superior parietal, thalamus, and left superior occipital cortices (all p < .05). A significant interaction effect was demonstrated, indicating that faster response time was associated with greater activation of the left superior occipital region in the pediatric MS group than in the non-MS group (p = .002). CONCLUSIONS: Attenuated activation of frontal regions was observed in this cohort of pediatric-onset MS patients when performing the fMRI-SDMT, even in the absence of behaviorally detectable deficits. Within the MS group only, faster response time elicited greater activation, suggesting this to be an adaptive mechanism that may contribute to limiting the impact of disease-related structural pathology.
Authors: Dino Dvorak; Andrea Shang; Samah Abdel-Baki; Wendy Suzuki; Andre A Fenton Journal: IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng Date: 2018-04 Impact factor: 3.802
Authors: Curtis M Wojcik; Meghan Beier; Kathleen Costello; John DeLuca; Anthony Feinstein; Yael Goverover; Mark Gudesblatt; Michael Jaworski; Rosalind Kalb; Lori Kostich; Nicholas G LaRocca; Jonathan D Rodgers; Ralph Hb Benedict Journal: Mult Scler Date: 2019-10-22 Impact factor: 6.312
Authors: Jonathan D Santoro; Michael Waltz; Greg Aaen; Anita Belman; Leslie Benson; Mark Gorman; Manu S Goyal; Jennifer S Graves; Yolanda Harris; Lauren Krupp; Timothy Lotze; Soe Mar; Manikum Moodley; Jayne Ness; Mary Rensel; Moses Rodriguez; Teri Schreiner; Jan-Mendelt Tillema; Emmanuelle Waubant; Bianca Weinstock-Guttman; Brigitte F Hurtubise; Shelly Roalstad; John Rose; T Charles Casper; Tanuja Chitnis Journal: Neurology Date: 2020-07-20 Impact factor: 9.910