Can the Executive Control Network be Used to Diagnose Parkinson’s Disease and as an Efficacy Indicator of Deep Brain Stimulation?

Abstract

Objective. The aim of this work was to investigate whether there are differences in the executive control network (ECN) between patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) before and after deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery and to explore how deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery affects ECN connectivity in patients with PD. Methods. Resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were obtained from 23 patients with Parkinson’s disease preoperatively (pre-PD) and postoperatively (post-PD) and 14 normal controls (CN). The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was used as the seed region of interest (ROI) to study the characteristics of the functional connectivity of the ECN in these subjects. Results. There were differences in the ECN among PD patients before and after surgery and between the CN. Compared with the CN group, the pre-PD patients showed significantly reduced functional connectivity (FC) between the DLPFC and the left inferior frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left cerebellum posterior lobe, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus, right posterior central gyrus, right precuneus, and right inferior frontal gyrus. Compared to the CN group, the post-PD patients showed significantly reduced FC between the DLPFC and left inferior frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left cerebellum posterior lobe, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right parietal lobule. There is no difference in the ECN between the pre-PD patients and the post-PD patients. Conclusions. The FC of ECN in PD patients was different from that in normal controls, but the FC of the ECN in patients with PD may not be altered by DBS. This suggests that the ECN may be considered an imaging biomarker for the identification of PD but may not be a good imaging biomarker for the evaluation of DBS efficacy.

Changes in Metabolic Activity and Gait Function by Dual-Task Cognitive Game-Based Treadmill System in Parkinson’s Disease: Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…We expect that following intervention, the XG group will have increased functional connectivity between these regions compared to the CG group, and that this functional connectivity will correlate with PD stage. Similarly, in the whole-brain RS-fMRI analysis, we hypothesize that pre-intervention, both PD groups will have altered functional connectivity within central executive, sensorimotor, visual, default mode, and cerebellar resting state networks compared to healthy controls (de Schipper et al, 2018;Wolters et al, 2019;Dong et al, 2020;Schneider et al, 2020), but that PD groups will not differ from each other. Postintervention, we hypothesize that functional connectivity within these networks will differ between XG and CG PD groups.…”

“…The components separated using ICA tend to separate into groups, comprising highly replicable resting state networks: regions whose activity is correlated over time, in the absence of a task. Several resting state networks of interest will be investigated in pre-vs. post-intervention, including the central executive, sensorimotor, visual, default mode, and cerebellar networks, as these networks are related conceptually to the motor and cognitive deficits observed in PD and many have been shown to be altered in PD in the past (de Schipper et al, 2018;Wolters et al, 2019;Dong et al, 2020;Schneider et al, 2020).…”

Prediction of Deep Brain Stimulation Outcome in Parkinson’s Disease With Connectome Based on Hemispheric Asymmetry

“…It was widely accepted that the changes in cognitive function in PD were most closely related to the frontal lobe ( Obeso et al, 2012 ). For the brain functional connection, the connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the IFG, superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and MFG in PD patients were significantly reduced ( Dong et al, 2020 ). The frontal lobe “N30” status indicated the severity of PD movement and can effectively respond to dopamine deficiency ( Claassen et al, 2016 ).…”

Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease: Assessing Efficacy

“…Dong et al (2020) explored whether Executive Control Network (ECN) could be used to assess the efficacy of DBS. 21 They found no difference in the functional connectivity (FC) of the ECN in PD before and after DBS. However FC to ECN differed between patients with PD and controls.…”

“…The researchers concluded that ECN could be used to diagnose PD but not assess the efficacy of DBS. 21…”