The structural brain connections of patients with neurological diseases and disorders

Abstract

The brain is a network of subnetworks of interconnected regions. These connections exist not only between brain regions that are anatomically connected, but also between those whose activities are synchronized. System approach to decipher such “brain network” may potentially improve our understanding of the relation between cognition and behavior versus the underlying neuroanatomical substrates of healthy and pathological brains. A recent advent in the analysis of the imaging data of the brain, known as the brain connectivity analysis, allows systematic and quantitative characterization of brain architecture from global and local perspectives. In this thesis, the diagnostic or prognostic value of the anatomical or structural brain network of three neurological diseases and disorders were investigated. The first study demonstrates for the first time that there are more extensive global and local network reorganizations in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms than those without, suggesting that brain connectivity analysis may be a potential tool to subtype patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. The second study shows that the overall burden of small vessel disease (SVD) is associated with the global and local structural brain networks of patients with first transient ischemic attack (TIA) or ischemic stroke, indicating that the extent of alteration in brain network may be related to SVD severity. The third study demonstrates for the first time the association between brain functional recovery versus the baseline residual structural brain network of patients with first acute ischemic stroke in the motor system, suggesting that the residual structural brain network at the acute stroke phase may be relevant to the eventual functional recovery.