Texture analysis of dorsal striatum in functional neurological (conversion) disorder.

Murat Baykara,Sema Baykara

doi:10.1007/s11682-021-00527-3

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the dorsal striatum nuclei of patients diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder by texture analysis method from magnetic resonance imaging images and to compare them with healthy controls. Study groups consisted of 20 female patients and 20 healthy women. The brains of patients and controls were scanned for high-resolution images with a 1.5T scanner using the sagittal plane and 3D spiral fast spin echo sequence. Using the texture analysis method, mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, median, variance, entropy, size %L, size %U, size %M, kurtosis, skewness and homogeneity values of the dorsal striatum nuclei were calculated from the images. The data were compared with comparison tests according to Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results. There was no statistically significant difference between paired regions in terms of texture analysis findings in the cross-sectional images of the participants. In patients, mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, median, variance and entropy values for the putamen nucleus, and mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, median, variance, entropy and kurtosis values for the caudate nucleus were found significantly higher than controls. Additional receiver operating characteristic curve and logistic regression analyzes were performed. The implications of the results of the study are that there are significant microstructural changes in the dorsal striatum nuclei of patients and their reflection on brain images. Texture analysis is a useful technique to show tissue changes in the dorsal striatum of patients using images. It is highly recommended to use texture analysis to identify and evaluate potentially affected areas of the brain in new studies.

Highlights

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a condition that cannot be defined and clarified by neurological symptoms and medical conditions that can develop typical neurological diseases (Aybek et al, 2015)
Because of the important findings in recent studies, we aimed to evaluate the striatum by tissue analysis using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of patients with FND and to compare the findings with healthy controls
There was no significant difference in FND patients compared to control individuals in terms of other parameters

Summary

Introduction

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a condition that cannot be defined and clarified by neurological symptoms and medical conditions that can develop typical neurological diseases (Aybek et al, 2015). Its etiology has not been clearly elucidated, but the number and emphasis of neurobiological explanations has increased in recent years Psychogenic trauma is a risk factor for FND, and clinical findings suggest that altered emotional processing and motor symptoms are closely linked to it. It is not clearly understood which neural networks interact in this process (Aybek, Nicholson, Zelaya, et al, 2014). Recent studies have revealed the presence of impressive brain findings in FND that can be recognized by imaging Recent studies have revealed the presence of impressive brain findings in FND that can be recognized by imaging (Atmaca et al, 2016; Aybek et al, 2015; S. Baykara et al, 2021; Giedd, Raznahan, Mills, & Lenroot, 2012)

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