FMRI Retinotopic Mapping in Patients with Brain Tumors and Space-Occupying Brain Lesions in the Area of the Occipital Lobe.

Tina Plank,Mark W Greenlee,Katharina Rosengarth,Martin Proescholdt,Nils Ole Schmidt,Katharina Hense,Frank Dodoo-Schittko,Christina Wendl,Elisabeth Bumes

doi:10.3390/cancers13102439

Tina Plank, Mark W Greenlee + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13102439

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Abstract

Simple SummaryFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with brain tumors enables the visualization of eloquent cortical areas and can be used for planning surgical interventions and assessing the risk of postoperative functional deficits. While preoperative fMRI paradigms used to determine the localization of speech-critical or motor areas dominate the literature, there are hardly any studies that investigate the retinotopic organization of the visual field in patients with occipital lesions or tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a brain tumor or space-occupying brain lesions on the retinotopic organization of the occipital cortex, the activation of and the functional connectivity between cortical areas involved in visual processing. We found a high degree of similarity in the activation profiles of patients and healthy controls, indicating that the retinotopic organization of the visual cortex can reliably be described by fMRI retinotopic mapping as part of the preoperative examination of patients with tumors and space-occupying brain lesions.Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a valuable tool in the clinical routine of neurosurgery when planning surgical interventions and assessing the risk of postoperative functional deficits. Here, we examined how the presence of a brain tumor or lesion in the area of the occipital lobe affects the results of fMRI retinotopic mapping. fMRI data were evaluated on a retrospectively selected sample of 12 patients with occipital brain tumors, 7 patients with brain lesions and 19 control subjects. Analyses of the cortical activation, percent signal change, cluster size of the activated voxels and functional connectivity were carried out using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) and the CONN and Marsbar toolboxes. We found similar but reduced patterns of cortical activation and functional connectivity between the two patient groups compared to a healthy control group. Here, we found that retinotopic organization was well-preserved in the patients and was comparable to that of the age-matched controls. The results also showed that, compared to the tumor patients, the lesion patients showed higher percent signal changes but lower values in the cluster sizes of the activated voxels in the calcarine fissure region. Our results suggest that the lesion patients exhibited results that were more similar to those of the control subjects in terms of the BOLD signal, whereas the extent of the activation was comparable to that of the tumor patients.

Highlights

Functional MRI have become increasingly popular as one of many noninvasive tools in the diagnosis of brain tumors and space-occupying brain lesions
In addition to group comparisons, we examined the percent signal change and cluster size of the activated voxels within the different brain areas involved in visual processing, as well as the task-based functional connectivity between these areas
To investigate the influence of a brain tumor/space-occupying brain lesion on retinotopic mapping, we evaluated the cortical activation during the presentation of the three circles for a healthy control group, as well as the tumor patients and lesion patients group using Statistical Parametric Mapping 12 (SPM12)

Summary

Introduction

Functional MRI have become increasingly popular as one of many noninvasive tools in the diagnosis of brain tumors and space-occupying brain lesions. The extent to which cortical areas relevant for specific functions like language, motor skills or sensory abilities are affected by the lesion can be assessed and can be considered when planning surgical intervention. The benefit of surgical resection of a brain tumor or a space-occupying brain lesion is always offset against the risk of injury to intact eloquent areas. The success of the treatment should consider the structural tumor resection but, the functional outcome based on the neurological, cognitive and sensory abilities that influence the general quality of life. In addition to the gold standard of intraoperative cortical mapping, precise preoperative mapping of the tumor using imaging techniques is of great importance for the success of surgical planning and tumor resection [3,4]

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