de Dreu MJ, Schouwenaars IT, Rutten GJM, Ramsey NF, Jansma JM. Fatigue in brain tumor patients, towards a neuronal biomarker.
NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020;
28:102406. [PMID:
32971465 PMCID:
PMC7509800 DOI:
10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102406]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Revised: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Subjective fatigue correlated with phasic alertness default mode activation in brain tumor patients.
Subjective fatigue did not correlate with phasic alertness central executive activation in brain tumor patients.
Default mode activation is a candidate for developing a biomarker for fatigue in brain tumor patients.
Background
Many brain tumor patients suffer from fatigue which severely affects their quality of life. There is a lack of objective measurements for fatigue in brain tumor patients. We aimed to find a neurophysiological correlate for fatigue in brain tumor patients. For this purpose, we correlated brain activity associated with phasic alertness with self-reported ratings of fatigue.
Methods
Patients with a meningioma, a low-grade glioma or a high-grade glioma (N = 63) participated in this fMRI study. Brain activity in the central executive network (CEN) and default mode network (DMN) associated with phasic alertness was correlated with self-reported fatigue measured with the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI-20). Follow-up analyses were performed for MFI-20 domain scores, individual regions within CEN and DMN, and the tumor sub-groups separately.
Results
MFI-20 scores correlated significantly with DMN activity associated with phasic alertness, but not with CEN activity. These results were consistent for each tumor sub-group. Within the DMN, the correlations were strongest in left and right lingual cortex, left and right cuneus, and right precuneus.
Discussion
Self-reported fatigue in brain tumor patients was associated with objective measurements of brain activity, specifically the DMN activity related to phasic alertness. This association represents an important step in the development of a biomarker for fatigue in brain tumor patients, and possibly for other patients that suffer from fatigue.
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