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Concurrent brain structural and functional alterations in adult survivors of childhood brain tumors

Poster No:

2286

Submission Type:

Abstract Submission

Authors:

Jinfeng Hou¹, hongbo Chen¹^,2^,3, Qian Wang¹, You Xie⁴, Hui Mao⁵, Liya Wang⁶, Luqi Cheng¹^,2^,3^,7

Institutions:

¹School of life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China, ²Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Biomedical Sensors and Intelligent Instruments, Guilin, China, ³Guangxi Human Physiological Information Non-Invasive Detection Engineering Technology Research Center, Guilin, China, ⁴Guilin Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guilin, China, ⁵Department of Radiology and Imaging Science and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, USA, ⁶Department of Radiology, Affiliated Longhua People's Hospital, the Third School of Clinical Medicine, shenzhen, China, ⁷Research Center for Augmented Intelligence, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China

First Author:

Jinfeng Hou
School of life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology
Guilin, China

Co-Author(s):

hongbo Chen
School of life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology|Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Biomedical Sensors and Intelligent Instruments|Guangxi Human Physiological Information Non-Invasive Detection Engineering Technology Research Center
Guilin, China|Guilin, China|Guilin, China

Qian Wang
School of life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology
Guilin, China

You Xie
Guilin Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Guilin, China

Hui Mao
Department of Radiology and Imaging Science and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University
Atlanta, USA

Liya Wang
Department of Radiology, Affiliated Longhua People's Hospital, the Third School of Clinical Medicine
shenzhen, China

Luqi Cheng
School of life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology|Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Biomedical Sensors and Intelligent Instruments|Guangxi Human Physiological Information Non-Invasive Detection Engineering Technology Research Center|Research Center for Augmented Intelligence, Zhejiang Lab
Guilin, China|Guilin, China|Guilin, China|Hangzhou, China

Introduction:

Brain tumors and related treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy, significantly affect the structural and functions of brain tumor patients, which in turn impact the treatment outcomes and their quality of life. This clinical challenge is even more remarkable in pediatric brain tumor patients due to the vulnerability their brains that are still developing. In several earlier studies, structural and functional abnormalities were demonstrated in survivors of childhood brain tumors [1-4]. However, the information and investigations on the structural and functional underpinnings of abnormalities in adult survivors of childhood brain tumors are still limited. Here, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) to examine simultaneous structural and functional alterations in tumor survivors compared with healthy controls.

Methods:

Human data, including T1-weighted images (1mm isotropic) and rs-fMRI (3mm isotropic), were from 35 adult survivors of childhood brain tumors and 35 matching healthy individuals as controls, which were recruited from cohorts participating in the initial longitudinal pediatric brain tumor study and later neuroimaging studies [5,6]. We used T1-weighted images with SPM12 to normalize to the MNI space of the standard atlas before the images were segmented into gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid. Smoothing was then performed using a 6-mm FWHM Gaussian kernel. We preprocessed the rs-fMRI data using DPARSF, and the preprocessed time series for each voxel were first transformed to the frequency domain by fast Fourier transform to compute the root mean square of the power spectra of each voxel from 0.01 to 0.08 Hz, to obtain the ALFF values for all voxels of the whole brain. Two-sample t-tests were performed for GMV of VBM, with age, sex, and total intracranial volume as covariates. The significant level was set at FDR-corrected p < 0.05 and cluster size >20. Two-sample t-tests were performed for ALFF values based on uncorrected p < 0.001 and cluster size > 20. Pearson correlation analysis was performed on GMV and ALFF values for structurally and functionally abnormal brain regions. The significant level was at p < 0.05. Due to the damages in the cerebellum in most brain tumor survivors, we removed the cerebellum in statistical analysis.

Results:

Compared with healthy controls, brain tumor survivors had decreased GMV in the thalamus and increased GMV in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG). Functionally, brain tumor survivors had lower ALFF values in the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and medial prefrontal area (MPFA) and higher ALFF values in the thalamus (Fig.1). Importantly, a concurrent structural and functional alterations in the region of thalamus was identified based on the significant differences in GMV and ALFF values, which were negatively correlated (Fig.2). These findings on concurrent brain structural and functional alterations in brain tumor survivors may contribute to cognitive deficits in brain tumor survivors.

Conclusions:

This retrospective study of long-term survivors of pediatric brain tumor revealed structural changes in the SFG and bilateral thalamus, and abnormal functional activities in the ITG, MPFA, and thalamus. We also identified the concurrent structural and functional alteration in the thalamus, suggesting a potential functional advantage of the thalamus which may represent a compensatory processing to integrating neural activity, and controlling the transmission of information between subcortical and cortical areas in brain tumor survivors. These finding shed the light on the specific structural and functional substrates underlying the cognitive deficits experienced by these individuals, which may help to develop new interventions to improve their quality of life.

Modeling and Analysis Methods:

fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling

Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:

Anatomical MRI ¹

BOLD fMRI ²

Keywords:

MRI

Statistical Methods

STRUCTURAL MRI

Thalamus

Other - Brain tumor

^1|2Indicates the priority used for review

·Changes in brain structure and ALFF in survivors in comparison with healthy controls

· The concurrent alterations of the GMV and ALFF values in the survivors and healthy controls

Provide references using author date format

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6. King, T.Z. (2015). "Neural Underpinnings of Working Memory in Adult Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors". Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS,vol. 21, pp. 494-505.