title: Longitudinal Intrinsic Brain Activity Changes in Cirrhotic Patients before and One Month after Liver Transplantation.
abstract: To evaluate the spontaneous brain activity alterations in liver transplantation (LT) recipients using resting-state functional MRI.
  
  
  
  Twenty cirrhotic patients as transplant candidates and 25 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. All patients repeated the MRI study one month after LT. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values were compared between cirrhotic patients (both pre- and post-LT) and HCs as well as between the pre- and post-LT groups. The relationship between ALFF changes and venous blood ammonia levels and neuropsychological tests were investigated using Pearson's correlation analysis.
  
  
  
  In the cirrhotic patients, decreased ALFF in the vision-related regions (left lingual gyrus and calcarine), sensorimotor-related regions (left postcentral gyrus and middle cingulate cortex), and the default-mode network (bilateral precuneus and left inferior parietal lobule) were restored, and the increased ALFF in the temporal and frontal lobe improved in the early period after LT. The ALFF decreases persisted in the right supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobule, and calcarine. The ALFF changes in the right precuneus were negatively correlated with changes in number connection test-A scores (r= 0.507,p< 0.05).
  
  
  
  LT improved spontaneous brain activity and the results for associated cognition tests. However, decreased ALFF in some areas persisted, and new-onset abnormal ALFF were possible, indicating that complete cognitive function recovery may need more time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Li-Xiang
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Shuang-Shuang
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science and Technology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cognitive Computing and Application, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
authors.forename: Gao-Yan
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Ning
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics
keywords: Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation; Brain activity change; Cirrhosis; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Hepatic encephalopathy; Liver transplantation; Resting state