Journal
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
Volume 30, Issue 8, Pages 2393-2400Publisher
WILEY-LISS
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20672
Keywords
functional MRI; consciousness; resting state; vegetative state; default network
Funding
- Belgian Fonds National do la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) [3.4517.04]
- Concerted Research Action from Belgian French Community [ARC 06/11340]
- Fondation Medicale Reine Elisabeth
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sart Tilman
- University of Liege
- Mind Science Foundation
- McDonnell Foundation
- European Commission
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Recent Studies On Spontaneous fluctuations in the functional MRI blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in awake healthy subjects showed the presence of coherent fluctuations among functionally defined neuroanatomical networks. However, the functional significance of these spontaneous BOLD fluctuations remains poorly understood. By means of 3 T functional MRI, we demonstrate absent cortico-thalamic BOLD functional connectivity (i.e. between posterior cingulate/precuneal cortex and medial thalamus), but preserved cortico-cortical connectivity within the default network in a case of vegetative state (VS) Studied 2.5 years following cardio-respiratory arrest, as documented by extensive behavioral and paraclinical assessments. In the VS patient, as in age-matched controls, anticorrelations could also be observed between posterior cingulate/precuneus and a previously identified task-positive cortical network. Both correlations and anticorrelations were significantly reduced in VS as compared to controls. A similar approach in a brain dead patient did not show any such long-distance functional connectivity. We conclude that some slow coherent BOLD fluctuations previously identified in healthy awake human brain can be found in alive but unaware patients, and are thus unlikely to be uniquely due to ongoing modifications of conscious thoughts. Future studies are needed to give a full characterization of default network connectivity in the VS patients Population. Hunt Brain Mapp 30:2393-2400, 2009. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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