Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Cognitive Impairment Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive degenerative disease with upper and lower motor neurons involved, but extramotor involvement, such as executive dysfunction, has also been observed. Using the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and the analysis of the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), the regional homogeneity (ReHo), and the functional connectivity (FC), the functional activity and connectivity of default mode network (DMN), sensorimotor network (SMN), and left frontoparietal network (FPN) were compared between3cognitive impaired ALS patients (ALSi) and8cognitive unimpaired ALS patients (ALSu). Compared with ALSu patients, ALSi patients showed an increased activity of ALFF in the SMN and the left FPN; an increased connectivity in between the bilateral paracentral lobules in the SMN; an increased connectivity between the bilateral paracentral lobules in the SMN and the left triangular/obital part of the inferior frontal gyrus in the left FPN; and a decreased connectivity between the left triangular/obital part of the inferior frontal gyrus in the left FPN and the left angular gyrus in the DMN. This change of the functional activity and connectivity might have a role in an attempt to maintain motor funcition while causing the cognitive impairment at the same time.