AUTHOR=Huang Zhaodi , Xia Xiaona , Guan Shuai , Gong Gaolang , Luo Yishan , Shi Lin , Zhang Juntao , Meng Xiangshui 

TITLE=Neuroimaging anomalies in asymptomatic middle cerebral artery steno-occlusive disease with normal-appearing white matter

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1206786

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2023.1206786

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Background: Asymptomatic chronic cerebrovascular steno-occlusive disease is common, but the cognitive function, alterations in the brain structural and functional profiles have not been well studied. This study aimed to reveal whether and how patients with asymptomatic MCA steno-occlusive disease and normal-appearing white matter differ in brain structural and functional profiles from normal controls and their correlations with cognitive function.Methods: Twenty-six patients with asymptomatic MCA steno-occlusive disease and twenty-two normal controls were compared for neurobehavioral assessments, brain volume, cortical thickness, fiber connectivity density (FiCD) value, and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) using multimodal MRI. We also investigated the associations between abnormal cortical thicknesses, FiCD values, functional connectivities with the neurobehavioral assessments. Results: Patients performed worse on memory task (Auditory Verbal Learning Test-Huashan version) compared with normal controls. The left group showed significant cortical thinning in the left superior parietal lobule, while the right group showed significant cortical thinning in the right superior parietal lobule and caudal portion of right middle frontal gyrus.Increased FiCD values in the superior frontal region of the left hemisphere was observed in the left group. In addition, a set of interhemispheric and intrahemispheric FC showed significant decrease or increase in both the left and right groups. Many functional connectivity profiles were positively correlated with cognitive scores. No correlation was found between cortical thickness, FiCD values and cognitive scores.Even if the patients with MCA steno-occlusive disease were asymptomatic and had normal-appearing white matter, their cognitive function, structural and functional profiles had changed, especially the FC.Alterations in FC may be an important mechanism underlying the neurodegenerative process in patients with asymptomatic MCA steno-occlusive disease before structural changes occur, so FC assessment may promote the detection of network alterations, which may be used as a Middle Cerebral Artery Steno-occlusive Disease 3 biomarker of disease progression and therapeutic efficacy evaluation in these patients.