Abstract

Functional neuroanatomy of cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis is currently still a challenge. During the progression of the disease, several cognitive mechanisms deteriorate thus diminishing the patient’s quality of life. A primary objective in the cognitive assessment of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is to find reliable measures utilizing diverse neuroimaging techniques. Moreover, especially relevant in the clinical environment is finding technical approaches that could be applied to individual participants and not only for group analysis. A 64-channel electroencephalographic recording (EEG) was made with thirty participants divided into three groups of equivalent size (N = 10) (healthy control, low-EDSS (1–2.5) and moderate-EDSS (4–6)). Correlation analysis was applied to multiple measures: behavior, neuropsychological tests (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, 3 seconds (PASAT-3s) and the Symbol Digit Modality Test (SDMT)), Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), even-related potential (P3) and event-related desynchronization (ERD) parameters and the correlation scores between individual participant’s P3/ERD maps and the healthy grand average P3/ERDmaps. Statistical analysis showed that diverse parameters exhibited significant correlations. A remarkable correlation was the moderate score found between SDMT and EDSS (r = −0.679, p = 0.0009). However, the strongest correlation was between the value of integrated measures (reaction time, P3 and ERD latency) and EDSS (r = 0.699, p = 0.0006). In regard to correlations for grand average maps between groups, the P3 component exhibited a lower score according to a more deteriorated condition (higher EDSS). In contrast, ERD maps remained stable with an increase of EDSS. Lastly, a Z-transformation of individual values of all variables included in the study exhibited heterogeneity in cognitive alterations in the multiple sclerosis participants.

Highlights

  • Understanding the functional and anatomical changes related to cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis is currently still a challenge

  • The results showed that the onset latency of the event-related desynchronization (ERD) was not different between experimental groups;a more widespread anterior topography was found in fatigued patients

  • There were no significant differences between the other comparisons

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Summary

Introduction

Understanding the functional and anatomical changes related to cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis is currently still a challenge. The relatively stochastic localization of lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS) causes complex patterns of cognitive impairment mainly related to slowed cognitive processing speed and episodic memory decline as well as to executive function, verbal fluency and visuospatial analysis [1]. Considering this heterogeneity in the course of cognitive disability, one primary aim is to define protocols and techniques that would allow reliable evaluation of altered brain activity in individual patients. All of these modulations were obtained with diverse cognitive paradigms that suggest a non-sensory modality-dependent process representing a more central cognitive function

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