Presurgical microstructural coherence predicts cognitive change for bariatric surgery patients

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Radiology
• Psychology

Background:

• Obesity is linked to cognitive deficits.
• Weight loss interventions, like bariatric surgery, may impact cognition.
• Understanding the neural basis of cognitive change post-weight loss is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between presurgical white matter microstructural coherence and cognitive changes following bariatric surgery.
• To determine if baseline fractional anisotropy (FA) predicts cognitive performance and improvement after weight loss.

Main Methods:

• 24 adults with BMI ≥ 35 kg/m² underwent neuropsychological testing and MRI brain scans before and 12 weeks after bariatric surgery.
• Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) was used to compute FA in white matter tracts.
• Cognitive domains assessed included attention, learning, processing speed, executive function, verbal fluency, working memory, and overall cognition.

Main Results:

• Presurgical FA in certain white matter tracts positively correlated with cognitive change after surgery.
• Inverse relationships were found between baseline FA and presurgical cognition.
• Cognition generally improved, but a slight, non-significant decline in learning was observed post-surgery.

Conclusions:

• Presurgical white matter integrity is a significant predictor of the extent of cognitive change after weight loss.
• Bariatric surgery may temporarily negatively impact specific cognitive domains, such as learning.