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Identification of Disease-related Spatial Covariance Patterns using Neuroimaging Data
Published on: June 26, 2013
Identifying mild-moderate Parkinson's disease using whole-brain functional connectivity
Yan Tang1, Bailin Liu2, Yuan Yang3
1School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China; Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008 Hunan, China.
Objective:
Our study aims to extract significant disorder-associated patterns from whole brain functional connectivity to distinguish mild-moderate Parkinson's disease (PD) patients from controls.
Methods:
Resting-state fMRI data were measured from thirty-six PD individuals and thirty-five healthy controls. Multivariate pattern analysis was applied to investigate whole-brain functional connectivity patterns in individuals with 'mild-moderate' PD. Additionally, the relationship between the asymmetry of functional connectivity and the side of the initial symptoms was also analyzed.
Results:
In a leave-one-out cross-validation, we got the generalization rate of 80.28% for distinguishing PD patients from controls. The most discriminative functional connectivity was found in cortical networks that included the default mode, sensorimotor and attention networks. Compared to patients with the left side initially affected, an increased abnormal functional connectivity was found in patients in whom the right side was initially affected.
Conclusions:
Our results indicated that discriminative functional connectivity is likely associated with disturbances of cortical networks involved in sensorimotor control and attention. The spatiotemporal patterns of motor asymmetry may be related to the lateralized dysfunction on the early stages of PD.
Significance:
This study identifies discriminative functional connectivity that is associated with disturbances of cortical networks. Our results demonstrated new evidence regarding the functional brain changes related to the unilateral motor symptoms of early PD.
Insights
This study identifies distinct brain connectivity patterns in mild-moderate Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. These findings aid in distinguishing PD from healthy individuals using functional MRI data.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Medical Imaging
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis often relies on clinical motor symptoms, which may appear after significant neurodegeneration.
- Understanding early functional brain changes is crucial for timely diagnosis and intervention in PD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify significant disorder-associated patterns in whole-brain functional connectivity.
- To differentiate individuals with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease (PD) from healthy controls using neuroimaging data.
Main Methods:
- Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired from 36 PD patients and 35 healthy controls.
- Multivariate pattern analysis was employed to analyze whole-brain functional connectivity patterns.
- The relationship between functional connectivity asymmetry and the initial symptom side was investigated.
Main Results:
- A classification accuracy of 80.28% was achieved in distinguishing PD patients from controls using leave-one-out cross-validation.
- Discriminative functional connectivity was primarily observed within cortical networks, including the default mode, sensorimotor, and attention networks.
- Patients with initial right-sided symptoms exhibited greater abnormal functional connectivity compared to those with initial left-sided symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Discriminative functional connectivity patterns are associated with disruptions in cortical networks critical for sensorimotor control and attention.
- Motor symptom asymmetry in early PD may reflect underlying lateralized brain dysfunction.
- This research provides novel insights into functional brain alterations in early-stage PD, particularly concerning unilateral motor symptoms.
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