A multimodal MRI study of functional and structural changes in concomitant exotropia

Hao,Rui; Wang,Yang; Wang,Kailei; Wei,Ang; Zhang,Wei

doi:10.3892/etm.2023.12141

A multimodal MRI study of functional and structural changes in concomitant exotropia

Authors:
- Rui Hao
- Yang Wang
- Kailei Wang
- Ang Wei
- Wei Zhang
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Affiliations: Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Tianjin Eye Hospital, Clinical College of Ophthalmology of Tianjin Medical University, Nankai University Affiliated Eye Hospital, Tianjin Key Lab of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tianjin Eye Institute, Tianjin 300020, P.R. China, Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin 300052, P.R. China, Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Tianjin Eye Hospital, Clinical College of Ophthalmology of Tianjin Medical University, Nankai University Affiliated Eye Hospital, Tianjin Key Lab of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tianjin Eye Institute, Tianjin 300020, P.R. China, Department of Ophthalmology, Tianjin Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nankai Hospital, Tianjin 300102, P.R. China
Published online on: August 1, 2023 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2023.12141
Article Number: 442
Copyright: © Hao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

The present prospective study aimed to investigate the structural and functional changes in patients with concomitant exotropia using multimodal MRI. A total of 11 adult patients with concomitant exotropia (5 males and 6 females) and 11 healthy adult individuals (5 males and 6 females) were recruited and examined using multimodal MRI techniques. Near and distance exotropia deviation angles were measured. The structrual changes were evaluated using the gray matter volume. Functional reorganization was assessed using the amplitude of low‑frequency fluctuation, regional homogeneity and resting‑state functional connectivity (FC) on MRI. No significant differences could be found in terms of sex, age or body mass index between the two groups. However, the near and distance exotropia angles were significantly higer in the concomitant exotropia group compared with those in the normal control group (P<0.001). Compared with those in normal individuals, the bilateral thalamus, right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and right cuneus had significantly reduced gray matter volumes in the concomitant exotropia group (false discovery rate corrected, P<0.05). Reduced FC was found between the bilateral thalamus and the bilateral precuneus, between the right MTG and the right medial superior frontal gyrus in addition to the right precuneus, and between the right cuneus and the right primary sensorimotor cortex (P<0.05, Gaussian random‑field corrected) in the concomitant exotropia group compared with that in the normal individuals. In conclusion, the present study indicated that structural and functional reorganization occurs in specific brain regions of patients with concomitant exotropia. These reorganized areas appeared to mainly involve the subcortical structures and related cortices that process visual information.

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