Towards linking diffusion MRI based macro- and microstructure measures with cortico-cortical transmission in brain tumor patients

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2021-02, Vol.226, p.117567-117567, Article 117567
• Main Authors: Filipiak, Patryk, Almairac, Fabien, Papadopoulo, Théodore, Fontaine, Denys, Mondot, Lydiane, Chanalet, Stéphane, Deriche, Rachid, Clerc, Maureen, Wassermann, Demian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Auditory evoked potentials; Brain cancer; Brain Neoplasms - surgery; Brain tumors; Brain white matter microstructure; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cognitive science; Cortico-cortical evoked potentials; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Direct electrical stimulation; Effective connectivity; Electric Stimulation; Electrical stimuli; Electrocorticography; Electrodes; Evoked Potentials; Female; Glioma - surgery; Hemangioma, Cavernous, Central Nervous System - surgery; Humans; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neural networks; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - physiology; Neuroscience; Neurosurgical Procedures; Patients; Pilot Projects; Propagation; Regression analysis; Structural connectivity; Substantia alba; Tractography; Wakefulness; White Matter - diagnostic imaging; White Matter - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117567

We aimed to link macro- and microstructure measures of brain white matter obtained from diffusion MRI with effective connectivity measures based on a propagation of cortico-cortical evoked potentials induced with intrasurgical direct electrical stimulation. For this, we compared streamline lengths and log-transformed ratios of streamlines computed from presurgical diffusion-weighted images, and the delays and amplitudes of N1 peaks recorded intrasurgically with electrocorticography electrodes in a pilot study of 9 brain tumor patients. Our results showed positive correlation between these two modalities in the vicinity of the stimulation sites (Pearson coefficient 0.54±0.13 for N1 delays, and 0.47±0.23 for N1 amplitudes), which could correspond to the neural propagation via U-fibers. In addition, we reached high sensitivities (0.78±0.07) and very high specificities (0.93±0.03) in a binary variant of our comparison. Finally, we used the structural connectivity measures to predict the effective connectivity using a multiple linear regression model, and showed a significant role of brain microstructure-related indices in this relation.