Ming-Chung Chou1, Chih-Hung Ko2, Jer-Ming Chang3, Tsyh-Jyi Hsieh4. 1. Department of medical imaging and radiological sciences, Kaohsiung medical university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of healthcare administration and medical informatics, Kaohsiung medical university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of medical research, Kaohsiung medical university hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 2. Department of psychiatry, college of medicine, Kaohsiung medical university hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of psychiatry, Kaohsiung medical university hospital, Kaohsiung medical university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of psychiatry, Kaohsiung Municipal HsiaoKang hospital, Kaohsiung medical university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 3. Department of renal care, college of medicine, Kaohsiung medical university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of internal medicine, Kaohsiung medical university hospital, Kaohsiung medical university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of internal medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Cijin hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 4. Department of medical imaging, Chi Mei medical center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Electronic address: tsyhjyi.hsieh@gmail.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis were demonstrated to exhibit silent and invisible white-matter alterations which would likely lead to disruptions of brain structural networks. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the disruptions of brain structural network in ESRD patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thiry-three ESRD patients with normal-appearing brain tissues and 29 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study and underwent both cognitive ability screening instrument (CASI) assessment and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) acquisition. Brain structural connectivity network was constructed using probabilistic tractography with automatic anatomical labeling template. Graph-theory analysis was performed to detect the alterations of node-strength, node-degree, node-local efficiency, and node-clustering coefficient in ESRD patients. Correlational analysis was performed to understand the relationship between network measures, CASI score, and dialysis duration. RESULTS: Structural connectivity, node-strength, node-degree, and node-local efficiency were significantly decreased, whereas node-clustering coefficient was significantly increased in ESRD patients as compared with healthy controls. The disrupted local structural networks were generally associated with common neurological complications of ESRD patients, but the correlational analysis did not reveal significant correlation between network measures, CASI score, and dialysis duration. CONCLUSION: Graph-theory analysis was helpful to investigate disruptions of brain structural network in ESRD patients with normal-appearing brain tissues.
OBJECTIVE:End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis were demonstrated to exhibit silent and invisible white-matter alterations which would likely lead to disruptions of brain structural networks. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the disruptions of brain structural network in ESRDpatients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thiry-three ESRDpatients with normal-appearing brain tissues and 29 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study and underwent both cognitive ability screening instrument (CASI) assessment and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) acquisition. Brain structural connectivity network was constructed using probabilistic tractography with automatic anatomical labeling template. Graph-theory analysis was performed to detect the alterations of node-strength, node-degree, node-local efficiency, and node-clustering coefficient in ESRDpatients. Correlational analysis was performed to understand the relationship between network measures, CASI score, and dialysis duration. RESULTS: Structural connectivity, node-strength, node-degree, and node-local efficiency were significantly decreased, whereas node-clustering coefficient was significantly increased in ESRDpatients as compared with healthy controls. The disrupted local structural networks were generally associated with common neurological complications of ESRDpatients, but the correlational analysis did not reveal significant correlation between network measures, CASI score, and dialysis duration. CONCLUSION: Graph-theory analysis was helpful to investigate disruptions of brain structural network in ESRDpatients with normal-appearing brain tissues.
Authors: Yoo Jin Lee; Eunjae Yoon; Sihyung Park; Yang Wook Kim; Si Eun Kim; Junghae Ko; Jin Han Park; Kang Min Park; Il Hwan Kim; Bong Soo Park Journal: Medicine (Baltimore) Date: 2021-04-23 Impact factor: 1.817