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The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title: Alterations in brain connectivity after spinal cord injury using functional MRI
Author: Noor, Yamin Ahmed
View Online: njit-etd2012-077
(xi, 64 pages ~ 2.5 MB pdf)
Department: Department of Biomedical Engineering
Degree: Master of Science
Program: Biomedical Engineering
Document Type: Thesis
Advisory Committee: Alvarez, Tara L. (Committee chair)
Biswal, Bharat (Committee member)
Sahin, Mesut (Committee member)
Date: 2012-05
Keywords: Spinal cord injury
Altered functional connectivity
Availability: Unrestricted
Abstract:

Every year, approximately 50 people per million of inhabitants are inflicted by Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). The long-term impairment of the SCI patients has led researchers to investigate different rehabilitation and treatment efforts that require careful observations to be made on reliable markers. Presently, a number of neuropsychological assessments are used for SCI rehabilitation and research purposes. However, there is a need for the discovery of sensitive biomarkers that can be used to characterize SCI. Altered functional connectivity in the brain has been observed in a number of neurological patient populations. Hence, it was hypothesized that such alterations in brain connectivity occurs after SCI as well. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain functions while at rest on 23 healthy control subjects and 38 SCI subjects. Based on the level of injury, SCI subjects were divided into two groups of paraplegic and tetraplegic subjects, respectively. Independent component analysis (ICA) was performed on the three groups of subjects as well as the on the study population in order to approximate underlying brain networks. Corresponding spatial independent components obtained from the three groups demonstrated difference in spatial maps. Analysis of variance revealed group differences among the three groups in three neural networks – default mode network, right lateralized fronto-lateral network, and sensorimotor network. In addition, correlations were found between the neuropsychological assessment scores and connectivity strength of the locations that demonstrated difference. The results from this study which is preliminary in nature demonstrated alterations in brain connectivity in SCI patients. Furthermore, this study may provide information that can be used as biomarkers for SCI patient population.


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