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Original Article
Homogeneity of cognitive function altered in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy: A fMRI based study
YANG Xuhong  HUANG Xueying  LIU Wenxiao  WANG Minglei  GE Xin  ZHANG Wei  DANG Pei  DING Xiangchun  WANG Xiaodong 

Cite this article as: Yang XH, Huang XY, Liu WX, et al. Homogeneity of cognitive function altered in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy: A fMRI based study[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2022, 13(5): 77-81,88. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2022.05.014.


[Abstract] Objective To explore the effects of regional homogeneity (ReHo) changes on cognitive function in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE).Materials and Methods Twenty-five patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis complicated with MHE (MHE group), 27 patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis without MHE (cirrhosis group) and 30 healthy control subjects (healthy control group) with matching gender, age and educational level were collected. All the subjects underwent blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) scanning. The ReHo brain map was obtained after the original images were processed. Brain regions with ReHo differences among the healthy control group, the liver cirrhosis group and the MHE group were compared with Student's t-test. The correlation between the ReHo value of cerebral regions in the MHE group and the MoCA scale score was analyzed by Person correlation analysis.Results Compared with the healthy control group and the liver cirrhosis group, the NCT-A score of the MHE group was significantly increased, and the DST, MoCA scale scores were significantly decreased, with statistical difference (P<0.01). Compared with the healthy control, the ReHo of the right middle frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus and bilateral para-central lobule was significantly reduced in the MHE group, and the ReHo of the left anterior wedge lobe was increased, with statistical difference (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that in the MHE group, the MoCA score were negatively correlated with average ReHo value of the left anterior central gyrus, the left superior temporal gyrus, and part of the occipital region (P<0.05), and were positively correlated with the average ReHo value of the right superior marginal gyrus (P<0.05).Conclusions The cognitive impairment in patients with MHE may be related to the changes of ReHo in the cerebral region.
[Keywords] minimal hepatic encephalopathy;cognitive function;regional homogeneity;blood oxygenation level-dependent;functional magnetic resonance imaging;the number connection Test-A;digital symbol test

YANG Xuhong1   HUANG Xueying2   LIU Wenxiao1   WANG Minglei2   GE Xin1   ZHANG Wei2   DANG Pei2   DING Xiangchun3   WANG Xiaodong2, 4*  

1 Ningxia Medical University School of Clinical Medicine, Yinchuan 750001, China

2 Department of Radiology, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750001, China

3 Department of Infectious Diseases, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750001, China

4 Key Laboratory of Craniocerebral Diseases of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750001, China

Wang XD, E-mail: xdw80@yeah.net

Conflicts of interest   None.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Natural Science Foundation of Ningxia (No. 2022AAC03487); Science and Technology Key Research Program of Ningxia (No. 2019BEG03037); Preponderant Discipline Groups of Neuroscience in Key Laboratory of Craniocerebral Diseases of Ningxia Medical University (No. LNKF202109).
Received  2021-12-10
Accepted  2022-03-21
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2022.05.014
Cite this article as: Yang XH, Huang XY, Liu WX, et al. Homogeneity of cognitive function altered in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy: A fMRI based study[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2022, 13(5): 77-81,88. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2022.05.014.

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