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Association of disruption of the right posterior arcuate fasciculus with spatial neglect.
- Source :
-
Journal of neurosurgery [J Neurosurg] 2024 Apr 12; Vol. 141 (3), pp. 624-633. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Apr 12 (Print Publication: 2024). - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Objective: Spatial neglect is a debilitating condition observed in patients with right-sided brain injuries in whom there is defective awareness of the contralesional space. Although classically considered a right parietal lobe deficit, there has been increasing interest in the specific white matter (WM) architecture subserving spatial neglect. Patients who have lesions associated with chronic disruptions in visuospatial networks are of significant relevance in elucidating the WM tracts associated with spatial attention. In this study, the authors used two independent analytical methods to examine the relationship between WM connectivity changes and spatial attention.<br />Methods: Thirty patients with right-sided glioma underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography and neuropsychological testing prior to tumor resection. Spatial neglect was assessed using the Bells Test. Diffusion connectometry analysis was performed to calculate the probability of injury to 55 WM tracts. Next, quantitative DTI tractography was used to reconstruct 9 major WM tracts and obtain fractional anisotropy (FA) and streamline number values as indices of connectivity. Differences in connectivity were assessed between patients with neglect and controls.<br />Results: Of the WM tracts analyzed by diffusion connectometry, only the right posterior segment of the arcuate fasciculus (psAF) showed a higher probability of disconnection in patients with evidence of hemispatial neglect compared to tract reconstructions of previously published healthy controls (hemineglect: 42% ± 12.5%, vs control: 6.3% ± 4.8% [mean ± SEM]; p < 0.05). Of the WM tracts reconstructed by DTI tractography, only the right psAF demonstrated consistently lower indices of connectivity based on the mean streamline number (hemineglect: 550.35 ± 183.41, vs control: 1407.01 ± 319.93; p < 0.05) and FA value (hemineglect: 0.40 ± 0.013, vs control: 0.44 ± 0.0063; p < 0.05) in patients who demonstrated neglect compared to controls. The right long segment of the arcuate fasciculus, inferior frontooccipital fasciculus, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus also demonstrated a lower streamline number, but not a lower FA value, in patients with evidence of hemineglect.<br />Conclusions: These findings suggest that parietotemporal networks mediated by the right psAF may play a critical role in visuospatial attention. This analysis may help to disentangle the organization of the visuospatial attention networks, predict deficits in patients with glioma, and optimize surgical planning.
- Subjects :
- Humans
Male
Female
Middle Aged
Adult
Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Neural Pathways diagnostic imaging
Perceptual Disorders diagnostic imaging
Perceptual Disorders etiology
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
White Matter diagnostic imaging
White Matter pathology
Brain Neoplasms diagnostic imaging
Brain Neoplasms surgery
Brain Neoplasms pathology
Glioma diagnostic imaging
Glioma pathology
Glioma surgery
Glioma complications
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1933-0693
- Volume :
- 141
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of neurosurgery
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 38608308
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3171/2024.1.JNS232142