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. 2020 Jun;267(6):1760-1773.
doi: 10.1007/s00415-020-09747-x. Epub 2020 Mar 4.

Altered cerebral blood flow in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis

Ailiang Miao #  1   2 , Qianqian Liu #  3 , Zonghong Li #  4 , Wen Liu  4 , Lingling Wang  1 , Jianqing Ge  1 , Chuanyong Yu  1 , Yingxin Wang  1   2 , Shuyang Huang  1 , Yuanwen Yu, Qi Shi #  1 , Jintao Sun  1 , Xiaoshan Wang  5
Affiliations

Altered cerebral blood flow in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis

Ailiang Miao et al. J Neurol. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify to resting-state cerebral blood flow (CBF) connectivity alterations in patients with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis.

Methods: Three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pcASL) imaging was performed to measure the resting-state CBF in 23 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis at the peak stage of the disease and 32 healthy subjects. CBF was normalized to reduce variations among subjects. CBF was compared between the groups, and the correlations between the CBF alterations and clinical parameters were assessed. Differences in CBF connectivity in specific brain regions were also compared between groups.

Results: Compared with the healthy subjects, the patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis exhibited increased CBF in the left insula (L_insula), left superior temporal lobe (L_STL), L_hippocampus, L_pallidum, bilateral putamen (Bi_putamen), and Bi_caudate, and decreased CBF in the bilateral precuneus (Bi_Pc) and bilateral occipital lobe (Bi_OL) (P < 0.05, FEW corrected). Compared with healthy subjects, the patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis exhibited increased negative CBF connectivity between the Bi_Pc, Bi_OL and L_TL, L_insula (P < 0.05, FEW corrected). Anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients with behavioral changes exhibited higher CBF in the L_insula and lower CBF in the R_Pc, Bi_calcarine, Bi_cuneus, and Bi_lingual than patients without behavioral changes and health controls. The ROC curve shows changed CBF in the L_insula, and R_Pc, Bi_calcarine, Bi_cuneus, and Bi_lingual served as a predictor of behavioral changes in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis may exhibit both regional CBF abnormalities and deficits in CBF connectivity, which may underlie the clinical symptoms of anti-NMDAR encephalitis.

Keywords: Anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients; Arterial spin labeling; Cerebral blood flow; Connectivity; Magnetic resonance imaging.

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