Functional and Structural Alterations in Temporal Lobe Tumor Patients:Evidence of Functional Compensation in the Human Brain

XUE Li; YANG Yu-xuan; LING Tao; YANG Ya-min; QIAN Zhi-yu

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-0552.2018.03.003

摘要：Patients with temporal lobe tumor are frequently accompanied by cognitive impairments. This study aims to combine diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with resting-state functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) to explore the underlying cognitive alternation and functional reorganization in patients with temporal lobe tumor. Twenty patients with right temporal lobe tumor and seventeen healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. Independent component analysis (ICA) was utilized to divide the whole brain into six sub functional networks, and DTI combined with graph-based topological analysis was used to calculate the structural properties of whole-brain and sub functional networks. Besides, the rich hubs in both patients and healthy controls (HCs) were identified and a further analysis of their internal functional and structural connectivity was also conducted. The Eglobal in self-referential network (SRN) of patients is higher than HCs, while decreased Eglobal of dorsal attention network (DAN) and default mode network (DMN) were found in patients. For the patients, brain regions with increased nodal efficiency (Enodal) were located in the frontal lobe (corresponding to SRN). Six identical hubs were found in two groups. Compared patients with HCs, significant between-group differences in both functional and structural connectivity were observed between right insula (INS.R) and right lenticular nucleus, putamen (PUT.R). The findings provide evidence that impaired cognition are closely related to functional and structural abnormalities and the compensatory roles of frontal lobe were also identified in patients. The proposed combination of DTI and fMRI promises a widespread utilization in clinical research on the mechanisms of neurological diseases.