<p>Unilateral thalamic glioma disrupts large-scale functional architecture of human brain during resting state</p>

Abstract

BackgroundThe thalamus is an important deep brain structure for the synchronization of brain rhythm and the integration of cortical activity. Human brain imaging and computational modeling have non-invasively revealed its role in maintaining the cortical network architecture and functional hierarchy.PurposeThe objective of this study was to identify the effect of unilateral thalamic damage on the human brain intrinsic functional architecture.Patients and methodsWe collected an 8-minute resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) data on a 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanner for all the participants: a preoperative patient with left thalamus destroyed by anaplastic astrocytoma (WHO grade III type of astrocytoma) and 20 matched healthy controls. The R-fMRI data was analyzed for functional connectivity and amplitude of spontaneous fluctuations.ResultsThe patient showed prominent decrease in functional connectivity within primary sensory networks and advanced cognitive networks, and extensive alterations in between-network coupling. Further analysis of the amplitude of spontaneous activity suggested significant decrease especially in the topographies of default mode network and the Papez circuit.ConclusionThis result provided evidence about the consequences of thalamic destruction on the correlation and landscape of spontaneous brain activity, promoting our understanding of the effects of thalamic damage on large-scale brain networks.