Regional homogeneity of resting-state brain activity in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy

Abstract:

Objective：To study the resting-state brain activity in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy（MHE）. Methods： Sev－enteen patients with MHE and seventeen healthy control（HC） subjects underwent resting-state blood oxygen level dependence functional magnetic resonance imaging and the MRI data were analyzed with the regional homogeneity（ReHo） method. Results：Compared with HC group，MHE group showed lower ReHo in right medial frontal gyrus，bilateral anterior cingulate cortex/medial superior frontal gyrus，right inferior frontal gyrus，left rectal gyrus/orbital gyrus，right thalamus and right cerebellum posterior lobe，while higher ReHo in left insula，right middle frontal gyrus/inferior frontal gyrus and right fusiform gyrus/hippocampus/parahippocampa gyrus（P<0.005，cluster-level corrected）. Conclusion：Patients with MHE demonstrate abnormal neuron activities in multiple brain regions which are related with multiple cognitive control loops.