Task-evoked reconfiguration of the fronto-parietal network is associated with cognitive performance in brain tumor patie
- PDF / 2,307,771 Bytes
- 16 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 86 Downloads / 172 Views
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Task-evoked reconfiguration of the fronto-parietal network is associated with cognitive performance in brain tumor patients Wouter De Baene 1
&
Martijn J. Jansma 2 & Irena T. Schouwenaars 2 & Geert-Jan M. Rutten 2 & Margriet M. Sitskoorn 1
# The Author(s) 2019
Abstract In healthy participants, the strength of task-evoked network reconfigurations is associated with cognitive performance across several cognitive domains. It is, however, unclear whether the capacity for network reconfiguration also plays a role in cognitive deficits in brain tumor patients. In the current study, we examined whether the level of reconfiguration of the fronto-parietal (‘FPN’) and default mode network (‘DMN’) during task execution is correlated with cognitive performance in patients with different types of brain tumors. For this purpose, we combined data from a resting state and task-fMRI paradigm in patients with a glioma or meningioma. Cognitive performance was measured using the in-scanner working memory task, as well as an out-ofscanner cognitive flexibility task. Task-evoked changes in functional connectivity strength (defined as the mean of the absolute values of all connections) and in functional connectivity patterns within and between the FPN and DMN did not differ significantly across meningioma and fast (HGG) and slowly growing glioma (LGG) patients. Across these brain tumor patients, a significant and positive correlation was found between the level of task-evoked reconfiguration of the FPN and cognitive performance. This suggests that the capacity for FPN reconfiguration also plays a role in cognitive deficits in brain tumor patients, as was previously found for normal cognitive performance in healthy controls. Keywords Task-evoked network reconfiguration . Fronto-parietal network . Brain tumor patients . Working memory . Cognitive flexibility
Introduction
* Wouter De Baene [email protected] Martijn J. Jansma [email protected] Irena T. Schouwenaars [email protected] Geert-Jan M. Rutten [email protected] Margriet M. Sitskoorn [email protected] 1
Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, PO Box 90153, 5000, LE Tilburg, The Netherlands
2
Department of Neurosurgery, Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital, Tilburg, Netherlands
In Europe, between 8.5 and 14 per 100,000 persons per year are diagnosed with a primary brain tumor (Gigineishvili et al. 2014). In adults, the most common types of primary brain tumours are gliomas, developing from glial cells, and meningiomas, developing in the meninges. Gliomas are infiltrating tumors that lack a clear boundary between normally functioning brain tissue and pathological tumor tissue. They are classified based on their malignancy: Low-grade gliomas (LGG) tend to grow more slowly and less aggressively with lower degrees of cell infiltration and proliferation compared to highgrade gliomas (HGG). Meningiomas, by contrast, only infrequently infiltrate the surrounding brain tissue and most of them have a benign clinical course (Ostrom et a
