Functional connectivity alterations in patients with poststroke cognitive impairment: A resting-state functional...

Cognitive impairment is a common functional impairment after stroke that severely affects the quality of life of patients. The underlying neurobiological mechanisms of poststroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) remain unclear.

To investigate the changes in functional connectivity (FC) in the brains of patients with PSCI.

A total of 21 patients with PSCI and 12 healthy controls were selected as study subjects, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed. The brain region [Cerebellum_6_R (aal)] with significant differences identified by regional homogeneity analysis and the left thalamus, right thalamus, left basal ganglia, and right basal ganglia in the Brainnetome Atlas were selected as the seeds (regions of interest), and the FC between the seeds and whole-brain voxels was analyzed. Moreover, the 116 brain regions defined in the AAL116 atlas were selected as seeds (regions of interest), and the FC between the whole-brain seeds was calculated.

The results of the seed-based FC analysis revealed that the FC of the Cerebelum_9_R, Occipital_Mid_L, and Fusiform_R in the PSCI group was significantly greater than that in the control group. FC analysis of whole-brain seeds revealed that the FC of 20 pairs (Cerebelum_4_5_R and Cerebelum_6_R, etc.) in the PSCI group was significantly greater than that in the healthy control group.

Patients with PSCI exhibit changes in the FC of specific brain regions in the resting state, which may help researchers explore the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of PSCI from a new perspective.