Abnormal Spatial Patterns of Intrinsic Brain Activity in Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Abstract

Objective: Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a common condition that is encountered in clinical practice, and yet, little is known about its characteristics and manifestations in the brain. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to use resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to investigate the spatial patterns of spontaneous brain activity in the brain of ONFH patients. Methods: The study included ONFH patients and healthy controls. The pattern of intrinsic brain activity was measured by examining the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of blood oxygen level-dependent signals using rs-fMRI. Meanwhile, we also used Harris hip scores to evaluate the functional performance of ONFH patients and healthy controls. Result: Ten ONFH patients and 10 health controls were investigated. We found global ALFF differences between the two groups throughout the occipital, parietal, frontal, prefrontal, and temporal cortices. In the ONFH patients, altered brain activity was found in the brain regions in the sensorimotor network, pain-related network, and emotion and cognition network. The results of the correlation investigations also demonstrated that the regions with ALFF changes had significant correlations with the functional performance of the patients evaluated by Harris hip scores.

Alterations in brain structure and function in patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head: a multimodal MRI study

“…In addition, functional and structural changes in the PFC, including ankylosing spondylitis ( Liu et al, 2020 ), irritable bowel syndrome ( Mao et al, 2020 ), chronic lower back pain ( Yu et al, 2020 ), and neuropathic pain ( Li et al, 2020 ), have been demonstrated in other pain studies. In a recent rs-fMRI study ( Feng et al, 2020 ), researchers revealed an abnormal pattern of brain activity in ONFH patients and found that the most significant increase in ALFF occurred in pain-related brain regions, which is consistent with our results.…”

“…In addition, joint dysfunction was confirmed to elicit changes in brain function ( Di Russo et al., 2006 ). In one study with a small patient cohort, abnormal patterns of brain activity were observed in ONFH patients ( Feng et al, 2020 ). Consequently, we hypothesized that there might be changes in neural plasticity that are associated with ONFH.…”

General recommendation for assessment and management on the risk of glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis in patients with COVID-19

“…Overall, MRI is the most sensitive imaging modality for early-stage osteonecrosis. The characteristic appearances of osteonecrosis on MRI shown as Figure A9 may include: i) a serpentine band of low-signal intensity rim on T1-weighted images (T1WIs), ii) an inner high-signal-intensity band and an outer low-signal-intensity band are visible (so-called double-line sign) on T2-weighted sequences (T2WIs) [ 25 ].…”

Prediction of the Collapse of Necrotic Femoral Head by CT and X-Ray Examinations before Hip Replacement Based on Intelligent Medical Big Data

“…The determination of whether the femoral head collapses and the degree of articular cartilage collapse is an important guiding basis for clinical treatment [ 7 , 8 ]. Therefore, imaging is often used in clinical examination and prediction, among which CT and X-ray scanning are commonly used [ 9 ]. X-ray scanning, as one of the conventional methods for the diagnosis of ONFH, mainly reflects the results of disease examination by the tissue absorption rate of the X-ray; however, it is not sensitive to the early lesions of ONFH [ 10 ].…”