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Cancer Imaging

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Open Access 01-12-2020 | Cytostatic Therapy | Research article

Network-level functional connectivity alterations in chemotherapy treated breast cancer patients: a longitudinal resting state functional MRI study

Authors: Yun Feng, Yun Fei Wang, Li Juan Zheng, Zhao Shi, Wei Huang, Long Jiang Zhang

Published in: Cancer Imaging | Issue 1/2020

Abstract

Background

Previous studies have found abnormal structural and functional brain alterations in breast cancer survivors undergoing chemotherapy. However, the network-level brain changes following chemotherapy remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes of large-scale within- and between-network functional connectivity in chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients.

Methods

Seventeen breast cancer patients were evaluated with resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), neuropsychological tests and blood examination before postoperative chemotherapy (t0), one week after completing chemotherapy (t1) and six months after completing chemotherapy (t2). Nineteen age- and education level-matched healthy controls (HC) were also recruited. Independent components analysis (ICA) was performed to assess network component using rs-fMRI data. The functional network changes were then correlated with cognitive assessment scores and blood biochemical indexes.

Results

One-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significantly changed within-network functional connectivity in the anterior and posterior default mode network (ADMN and PDMN), left and right frontoparietal network (LFPN and RFPN), visual network and self-referential network. Post-hoc test showed that decreased within-network functional connectivity in ADMN, PDMN, LFPN, RFPN, SRN and central network one week after chemotherapy and increased six months after chemotherapy (all P < 0.05). As for the between-network functional connectivity, the PDMN- sensorimotor network connectivity showed the same tendency. Most of these within- and between-network functional connectivity changes were negatively associated with blood biochemical indexes and cognitive assessment scores (all P < 0.05).

Conclusions

These results indicated that chemotherapy may induce widespread abnormalities in resting state networks, which may serve as a potential biomarker of chemotherapy related cognitive impairment, providing insights for further functional recovery treatment.

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Title: Network-level functional connectivity alterations in chemotherapy treated breast cancer patients: a longitudinal resting state functional MRI study
Authors: Yun Feng
Yun Fei Wang
Li Juan Zheng
Zhao Shi
Wei Huang
Long Jiang Zhang
Publication date: 01-12-2020
Publisher: BioMed Central
Keywords: Cytostatic Therapy
Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer
Published in: Cancer Imaging / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1470-7330
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40644-020-00355-6

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