To date, there are almost no investigations addressing functional connectivity (FC) in patients with brain metastases (BM). In this retrospective study, we investigate the influence of BM on hemodynamic brain signals derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and FC. Motor-fMRI data of 29 patients with BM and 29 matched healthy controls were analyzed to assess percent signal changes (PSC) in the ROIs motor cortex, premotor cortex, and supplementary motor cortex and FC in the sensorimotor, default mode, and salience networks using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) and marsbar and CONN toolboxes. In the PSC analysis, an attenuation of the BOLD signal in the metastases-affected hemisphere compared to the contralateral hemisphere was significant only in the supplementary motor cortex during hand movement. In the FC analysis, we found alterations in patients’ FC compared to controls in all examined networks, also in the hemisphere contralateral to the metastasis. This indicates a qualitative attenuation of the BOLD signal in the affected hemisphere and also that FC is altered by the presence of BM, similarly to what is known for primary brain tumors. This transformation is not only visible in the infiltrated hemisphere, but also in the contralateral one, suggesting an influence of BM beyond local damage.
迄今为止，针对脑转移瘤患者功能连接的研究几乎空白。本回顾性研究旨在探讨脑转移瘤对功能性磁共振成像所获取的血流动力学脑信号及功能连接的影响。我们分析了29例脑转移瘤患者与29例匹配健康对照者的运动功能磁共振成像数据，采用统计参数图（SPM12）、marsbar及CONN工具箱，评估了感兴趣区（运动皮层、前运动皮层和辅助运动皮层）的信号变化百分比，以及感觉运动网络、默认模式网络和凸显网络的功能连接。信号变化百分比分析显示，仅在手动任务期间，转移瘤影响半球相较于对侧半球的BOLD信号在辅助运动皮层出现显著衰减。功能连接分析表明，与对照组相比，患者在所有检测网络中的功能连接均发生改变，包括转移瘤对侧半球。这表明受影响半球的BOLD信号存在质性衰减，且脑转移瘤的存在会改变功能连接，这与原发性脑肿瘤的已知影响相似。这种改变不仅出现在肿瘤浸润半球，也见于对侧半球，提示脑转移瘤的影响超越了局部损伤范围。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家