• Xiao-Dong Zhang, Yue Cheng, Colin S Poon, Rongfeng Qi, Qiang Xu, Hui-Juan Chen, Xiang Kong, Guang-Ming Lu, Wen Shen, and Long-Jiang Zhang.
• Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing Clinical School, Southern Medical University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, PR China; Department of Radiology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Clinical School of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300192, PR China; Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
• Brain Res. 2015 Sep 16; 1620: 177-87.

PurposeTo longitudinally evaluate long- and short-range functional connectivity density (FCD) alteration in cirrhotic patients one month after liver transplantation (LT) and their correlation with cognitive changes by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).MethodsTwenty seven candidates awaiting LT and 24 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) were studied. All 27 patients and HCs performed rs-fMRI examinations. Of 27 cirrhotic patients, 13 patients received LT underwent the repeated rs-fMRI examinations one month after LT. Laboratory and psychometric tests were carried out. The long- and short-range FCD maps derived from degree centrality calculation were compared. Correlations between FCD alteration and laboratory/psychometric changes were evaluated as well.ResultsIn cirrhotic patients, most of the brain areas with altered long- and short-range FCD could reverse one month after LT, which was accompanied with cognitive and liver functional improvement. The reduced long-range FCD in right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and Left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and reduced short-range FCD in right precuneus (PCu) persisted in the early period after LT. In addition, one month after LT, the post-LT group showed reduced long-range FCD in right rectus gyrus (REC) and left medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and reduced short-range FCD in left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), when compared with the pre-LT group. We found Δdigital symbol test (ΔDST) score positively correlated with long-range ΔFCD in right precentral gyrus (preCG) (r = 0.72, P < 0.01) and right supplementary motor area (SMA) (r = 0.59, P < 0.05).ConclusionLT results in favorable effect on cognitive function in cirrhotic patient, which can be reflected by FCD alteration. However, persistence of PCC/PCu functional connectivity disturbance one month after LT indicates complete cognitive function restoration may need a longer time.Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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