MRI of brain connectivity performed in an early phase after cardiac arrest showed the potential to identify if a patient may recover cognitive functional ability after one year.
The team of European and American scientists published the findings in Radiology. They noted “current prognostic models fail to predict coma emergence and cognitive recovery with a degree of accuracy and reproducibility…,” wrote corresponding author Robert D. Stevens, MD, with the Neuroimaging for Coma Emergence and Recovery (NICER) Consortium, and colleagues.
In turn, the NICER group set out to determine if early brain functional connectivity was associated with functional recovery one year after cardiac arrest.
The prospective study included 46 patients who were comatose after cardiac arrest, along with a healthy group of 48 participants.
Multiparametric structural and functional MRI was administered at four weeks to analyze connectiveness of four networks associated with higher order brain function. The group looked at both inter- and intra-network connectivity.
Results showed 11 patients achieved full or near full brain function after 12 months. That group was found to have higher within default-mode network (DMN) connectivity and greater anticorrelation between salience network and DMN, compared to patients with an unfavorable outcome.
“The results demonstrate that abnormalities in long-range connectivity occur within and between canonical brain networks in the acute phase of anoxic brain injury, and these abnormalities are associated with long-term functional outcome,” authors wrote.
Authors noted the results needed to be tested further in a large-scale setting. In an accompanying editorial, Sven Haller, MD, with the department of radiology at the University of Geneva, echoed that need, while praising the study findings.
“Importantly, the assessment of resting functional MRI functional connectivity was successful across different sites with different MR imagers, which indicated that there was potential clinical use for the resting functional MRI–derived measure to predict outcome in the acute phase of coma after cardiac arrest,” Haller wrote.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.