fMRI study of episodic memory in relapsing-remitting MS: correlation with T2 lesion volume. Neurology 2006 Nov 14;67(9):1640-5
Date
11/15/2006Pubmed ID
17101897DOI
10.1212/01.wnl.0000242885.71725.76Scopus ID
2-s2.0-33750988784 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 55 CitationsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether memory loss in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) results from faulty encoding or retrieval, we correlated extent of T2-weighted lesion involvement with brain activation patterns on fMRI scans obtained while patients performed a verbal episodic memory task.
METHODS: We performed a neurologic examination, neuropsychological testing, and an event-related fMRI scan on 36 patients with relapsing-remitting MS. In addition, we obtained T2-weighted structural MRI scans to measure lesion volume. We performed a regression analysis to examine the association between lesion volume and regional brain activation.
RESULTS: Increasing lesion volume correlated with increasing magnitude of brain activation, primarily in the left frontal and parietal association cortices. Significant correlations of function with lesion volume were primarily observed during the memory retrieval phase of the task.
CONCLUSIONS: These results extend previous fMRI studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) by demonstrating an association between greater disease burden and increased neural recruitment during episodic memory. In addition, the stronger correlations observed between lesion volume and brain activation during retrieval than encoding would suggest that retrieval processes are more affected by MS-related cerebral pathology.
Author List
Bobholz JA, Rao SM, Lobeck L, Elsinger C, Gleason A, Kanz J, Durgerian S, Maas EMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultBrain
Brain Mapping
Disability Evaluation
Female
Frontal Lobe
Functional Laterality
Humans
Learning
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory
Memory Disorders
Middle Aged
Multiple Sclerosis
Neural Pathways
Neuropsychological Tests
Parietal Lobe
