Abstract
Gut-brain crosstalk has been demonstrated previously. However, brain metabolic patterns of colorectal cancer and chronic enteritis remain unclear. A better understanding of gut-brain crosstalk from a radiological perspective is necessary. We conducted a retrospective study in which we acquired 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in 45 colorectal cancer cases, 45 age- and sex-matched chronic enteritis patients, and 45 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We calculated a scaled sub-profile pattern based on principal component analysis and metabolic connectivity to explore the brain metabolic model and analyzed correlations between various brain regions and cancer to identify potential neuroimaging markers for non-pharmaceutical therapies. We found a characteristic cerebral metabolic pattern in colorectal cancer patients, which mainly involved visceral sensation and both affective and cognitive psychological processes. The metabolic patterns of patients with colorectal cancer and chronic enteritis were similar but not identical. The metabolic connectivity of the postcentral gyrus and paracentral lobule was found to be significantly different between the controls and patients with colorectal cancer (p < 0.05, false discovery rate correction). The maximal standard uptake value of the cancer focus in colorectal cancer patients was negatively correlated with the dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (p < 0.05). Patients with colorectal cancer may show abnormal glucose cerebral metabolism characterized by “point-line-surface.” This preliminary study revealed the cerebral metabolic characteristics and neurobiological mechanisms of colorectal cancer and chronic enteritis (ChiCTR2000041020; registered December 16, 2020).
Highlights
The association between the gut and brain in the etiology, pathogenesis, and pathophysiology of disease has been investigated extensively
Disease-specific cerebral metabolic characteristics of colorectal cancer (CRC) and chronic enteritis were identified using a multivariate spatial covariance technique known as scaled sub-profile model based on principal component analysis (SSM/PCA) applied to 18F-FDG-PET images (Tomše et al, 2017)
The main findings of this study were as follows: (1) CRC and chronic enteritis patients exhibited characteristic cerebral metabolic patterns, which mainly involved areas responsible for visceral sensation and both affective and cognitive psychological processes; (2) the internal connectivity of the metabolic pattern in CRC patients was destroyed; and (3) in CRC patients, the SUVmax of the cancer focus was negatively correlated with the dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus
Summary
The association between the gut and brain in the etiology, pathogenesis, and pathophysiology of disease has been investigated extensively. Converging evidence from brain imaging studies suggests that the change of neural plasticity involved in cognition, emotion, and visceral sensation was found in inflammatory bowel disease (Gray et al, 2018) and irritable bowel syndrome (Hong et al, 2014). Disease-specific cerebral metabolic characteristics of CRC and chronic enteritis were identified using a multivariate spatial covariance technique known as scaled sub-profile model based on principal component analysis (SSM/PCA) applied to 18F-FDG-PET images (Tomše et al, 2017). We analyzed the correlation between brain regions and tumors to identify potential neuroimaging markers for non-pharmaceutical therapies This preliminary study aimed to reveal the cerebral metabolic characteristics and brain biological mechanisms of CRC and chronic enteritis
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