White Matter Deficits Underlying the Impaired Consciousness Level in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness
Xuehai Wu1 • Jiaying Zhang2,3 • Zaixu Cui2 • Weijun Tang4 • Chunhong Shao5 • Jin Hu1 • Jianhong Zhu1 • Yao Zhao1 • Lu Lu6 • Gang Chen7 • Georg Northoff8 • Gaolang Gong2,* • Ying Mao1,* • Yong He2
1Neurosurgical Department, Shanghai Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
2State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
3Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
4Radiological Department, Shanghai Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
5Psychiatry Department, Shanghai Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
6Huajia Hospital, Shanghai 200438, China
7Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
8Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1Z 7K4, Canada
Abstract
In this study, we aimed to (1) identify white matter (WM) deficits underlying the consciousness level in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOCs) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and (2) evaluate the relationship between DTI metrics and clinical measures of the consciousness level in DOC patients. With a cohort of 8 comatose, 8 unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state, and 14 minimally conscious state patients and 25 patient controls, we performed group comparisons of the DTI metrics in 48 core WM regions of interest (ROIs), and examined the clinical relevance using correlation analysis. We identified multiple abnormal WM ROIs in DOC patients compared with normal controls, and the DTI metrics in these ROIs were significantly correlated with clinical measures of the consciousness level. Therefore, our findings suggested that multiple WM tracts are involved in the impaired consciousness levels in DOC patients and demonstrated the clinical relevance of DTI for DOC patients.
Keywords
Disorder of consciousness; White matter; Diffusion tensor imaging; Brain injury
