Abnormal Baseline Brain Activity In Multiple Sclerosis Patients With Simple Spinal Cord Involvement Revealed By Resting-state Functional MRI

Object To assess the baseline brain activity in MS patients withsimple spinal cord involvement (MS-SSC) as a subgroup using thetechnique of regional amplitude of low-frequency fuctuation (ALFF) as anindex in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods Resting-state fMRI data acquired from17MS-SSC and16age-and sex-matched normal controls were compared to investigate ALFFdifferences. All fMRI data were processed and analyzed using theresting-state fMRI Data Analysis Toolkit. The relationships between spinalcord lesions, abnormal baseline brain activity, and disease duration werefurther explored.Results All MS-SSC patients have no brain lesion, most of patientsspinal cord lesions involved cervical cord (16cases), followed withthoracic cord (8cases), lumbar cord (2cases). Compared to the controls,MS-SSC patients showed significantly decreased ALFF in the precuneus,cuneus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), lingual gyrus, and fusiform gyrus.However, patients exhibited increased ALFF in the insula and the right parietal lobe (supramarginal gyrus). A significant correlation between theexpanded disability states scale (EDSS) scores and ALFF was noted only inthe lingual gyrus.Conclusion Our results revealed altered regional brain activity inMS-SSC patients during the resting state. These alterations may be due tospinal cord damage or potential brain damage that cannot be detected at thepresent stage.