Structural Disconnections Explain Brain Network Dysfunction after Stroke.

ABSTRACT: Stroke causes focal brain lesions that disrupt functional connectivity (FC), a measure of activity synchronization, throughout distributed brain networks. It is often assumed that FC disruptions reflect damage to specific cortical regions. However, an alternative explanation is that they reflect the structural disconnection (SDC) of white matter pathways. Here, we compare these explanations using data from 114 stroke patients. Across multiple analyses, we find that SDC measures outperform focal damage measures, including damage to putative critical cortical regions, for explaining FC disruptions associated with stroke. We also identify a core mode of structure-function covariation that links the severity of interhemispheric SDCs to widespread FC disruptions across patients and that correla

SUBMITTER: Griffis JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7032047 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature