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In this project, we adapted the methods developed for analysis of brain networks to MRI images of adolescents with congenital heart disease. We discovered altered brain circuits in patients compared to healthy adolescents. Further, we found that stronger alterations were associated with poorer cognitive performance. This effect was stronger in patients with more clinical risk factors such as prolonged surgeries. In contrast, there was no association with family-environmental factors.
Learning new skills and behaviors is crucial for normal development across the life span. To enable adaptive learning, executive functions, a set of cognitive skills such as working memory or attentional control, are essential. We want to investigate the underlying brain circuits of executive functions and help to better understand and predict learning impairments. Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) serve as a clinical model due to their risk for impaired executive functions and altered brain structure.
In this project, we investigated alterations in brain circuits in patients with CHD by processing diffusion MRI data and estimating their brain connectomes (see also our project on brain connectomes). Further, we determined executive function performance and calculate a cumulative clinical risk score.
Our data indicates that patients who face more risk factors over time (e.g., low oxygen saturation before surgery, prolonged stay on intensive care unit, and having a seizure) demonstrate lower executive function performance and altered brain networks. Their brain networks tend to be less strong and neighboring brain regions are less well connected. In contrast, there was no association with environmental resilience factors.
The processing of the comprehensive set of cognitive and MRI data needed complex analyses of high-dimensional data. This was done in collaboration with the HDDA platform seed.
Postdoc: Melanie Ehrler
Principal investigators: Bea Latal, András Jakab
Ehrler M, Speckert A, Kretschmar O, Tuura O’Gorman R, Latal B, Jakab A (2023) The cumulative impact of clinical risk on brain networks and associations with executive function impairments in adolescents with congenital heart diseasemedRxiv
