Brain functional alternation in patients with systemic sclerosis: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Motivation: Neuropsychiatric manifestations in systemic sclerosis (SSc) have been reported increasingly but lack evidence on the specific patterns of brain functional alternations. Goal(s): To investigate the resting state functional alternations in SSc patients using fMRI. Approach: Functional segregation analysis was performed to calculate the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo). Functional integration analysis was conducted for intra-network and inter-network functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Functional parameters were compared between SSc patients and healthy volunteers. Results: The SSc patients showed significantly decreased ALFF, intra-network and inter-network FC. Clinical characteristics including disease duration, and cognitive score were significantly associated with fMRI measurements. Impact: Our study demonstrates the spontaneous activity and functional connectivity alternations in SSc patients, which are partially associated with neuropsychiatric manifestations and tend to aggravate with disease duration. The results might provide the new insights into the neuropsychiatric manifestations in SSc.