https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-024-01454-2
Regular Article
A synergistic approach for identifying disrupted functional brain subnetworks in patients with chronic disorders of consciousness due to anoxic brain damage
1
Federal Research and Clinical Center of Intensive Care Medicine and Rehabilitology, Lytkino, 777, 141534, Solnechnogorsk, Russia
2
Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of Russian Academy of Science, 5A Butlerova St., 117485, Moscow, Russia
Received:
2
December
2024
Accepted:
12
December
2024
Published online:
7
January
2025
Determining the form of chronic disorder of consciousness is a challenging task in clinical practice, highlighting the need for objective diagnostic methods to assess the depth of impairment of consciousness. This study contributes to the development of more effective diagnostic and prognostic algorithms and biomarkers for patient management. Resting-state functional MRI data from 15 patients and 12 healthy controls were acquired using a 1.5 T system and processed using the statistical parametric mapping package. A connectivity matrix was constructed to assess brain connectivity, and statistical analyses including permutation tests, network-based statistics, and geodesic distance were used to identify significant differences in network measures between controls and patients. Our results revealed significant differences between the functional networks of the patient and control groups at both local and global levels, with altered metrics of node strength, clustering, and global efficiency. Notably, subcortical structures such as the thalamus, caudate nucleus, and raphe dorsalis nucleus showed disruptions in patients, consistent with the role of these regions in the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit. Our findings provide insight into the complex problem of how information is processed in the functional brain network in chronic disorders of consciousness, beyond the mere localization of functions.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
