Increased frontal functional networks in adult survivors of childhood brain tumors.
Childhood brain tumors and associated treatment have been shown to affect brain development and cognitive outcomes. Understanding the functional connectivity of brain many years after diagnosis and treatment may inform the development of interventions to improve the long-term outcomes of adult survivors of childhood brain tumors. This work investigated the frontal region functional connectivity of 16 adult survivors of childhood cerebellar tumors after an average of 14.9 years from diagnosis and 16 demographically-matched controls using resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI). Independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to identify the resting state activity from rs-fMRI data and to select the specific regions associated with executive functions, followed by the secondary analysis of the functional networks connecting these regions. It was found that survivors exhibited differences in the functional connectivity in executive control network (ECN), default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN) compared to demographically-matched controls. More specifically, the number of functional connectivity observed in the survivors is higher than that in the controls, and with increased strength, or stronger correlation coefficient between paired seeds, in survivors compared to the controls. Observed hyperconnectivity in the selected frontal functional network thus is consistent with findings in patients with other neurological injuries and diseases.
Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, Guangxi, China.
Hongbo
H
Chen
Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Radiology, The Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
Liya
L
Wang
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: tzking@gsu.edu.
Tricia Z
TZ
King
Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: hmao@emory.edu.
Hui
H
Mao
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012146:Rest; D017741:Survivors; D055815:Young Adult
Brain tumor; Functional connectivity; Resting state fMRI; Survivor