Altered White Matter Structural Network Connectivity Associated with Cognitive Declines in Psychogenic Erectile...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Psychogenic erectile dysfunction (pED) is associated with potential cognitive deficits.
• Neuroimaging studies indicate cerebral structural changes in pED, but the link to white matter (WM) network alterations and cognitive impairment is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between WM structural network connectivity and cognitive performance in pED patients.
• To identify specific WM network features associated with cognitive impairments in pED.

Main Methods:

• Utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and machine learning (K-Nearest Neighbor) to analyze WM structural networks in 40 pED patients and 33 healthy controls (HCs).
• Performed cognitive assessments and examined group differences in WM structural connectivity and its association with cognitive scores.

Main Results:

• Identified 24 key WM features from 26,896 DTI features with 78% classification accuracy.
• pED patients exhibited higher fractional anisotropy (FA) between the left transverse temporal sulcus and left supramarginal gyrus, and lower FA between the left suborbital sulcus and left para-hippocampal gyrus.
• Increased FA in the left transverse temporal sulcus to left supramarginal gyrus pathway correlated with impaired delayed memory.

Conclusions:

• pED is associated with specific alterations in WM structural network connectivity.
• These WM network changes may underlie the observed cognitive impairments, particularly in memory, in pED patients.
• Findings offer insights into the neural mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction in pED.