Resting-State fMRI Functional Connectivity of the Brain is Associated with Altered Sensorimotor Function in Patients with Cervical Spondylosis.

World Neurosurg. 2018 Aug 06;:

Authors: Woodworth DC, Holly LT, Salamon N, Ellingson BM

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between functional connectivity using resting-state fMRI and neurological impairment in patients with cervical spondylosis and healthy controls.
METHODS: A total of 24 patients with cervical spondylosis with or without myelopathy and 17 neurologically intact, healthy volunteer subjects were prospectively enrolled in a cross-sectional study involving observational MRI and evaluation of neurological function using the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) score. Seed-to-seed connectivity and seed-to-voxel connectivity were performed on fMRI data were performed using a general linear model of connectivity with respect to age and mJOA.
RESULTS: Increased functional connectivity was observed with increasing neurological impairment in patients with cervical stenosis within sensorimotor areas, including precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and supplemental motor regions (SMA), using both seed-to-seed and seed-to-voxel analyses. The anterior cingulate showed increasing connectivity with the SMA, thalamus and cerebellum with increasing neurological function. Similarly, the thalamus, cerebellum, and putamen presented with increasing connectivity to both the bilateral precuneus and posterior cingulate with increasing mJOA.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with cervical spondylosis exhibiting neurological impairment experience similar changes in brain connectivity to patients with chronic traumatic spinal cord injury. Results suggest an increase in functional connectivity within sensorimotor regions with increasing neurological impairment decreased connectivity between the cerebellum, putamen, and thalamus to the anterior and posterior cingulate as well as frontal lobe regions.

PMID: 30092474 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]