Functional Connectivity and Neurophysiological Evaluation of Patients with Hepatic Cirrhosis (5170)

Objective: To investigate functional behavior of the brain in patients with hepatic cirrhosis (HC) without signs of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) using trigeminal-facial reflex (TFR) and functional resting state neuroimaging. Background: Sub-clinical cases of HE affects more than half of patients with HC. The TFR is an accessible method which may be helpful in those cases. Resting state functional connectivity may be abnormal early helping in the clinical diagnosis of this condition. Design/Methods: 21 patients and 21 controls were recruited. Patients were submitted to TFR analysis, EEG and 3T MRI on the same day. Resting state bold time-series were acquired and used for connectivity analysis performed with Conn. Images were realigned, co-registered with T1 anatomical images, smoothed and submitted to denoising. Salience (SN) and default mode networks (DMN) were accessed using seed to voxel and ROI to ROI connectivity analysis. Statistical analysis comparing patients versus controls and a regression analysis was made between the functional maps and the parameters obtained in the TFR using the general linear model (GLM). Significance level was p Results: EEG was normal for all patients. Seed to voxel connectivity analysis disclosed reduction of SN (21 clusters, p Conclusions: Patients without clinical or EEG signs of HE showed reduced functional connectivity affecting SN and DMN. TFR latencies showed positive correlations with minor networks around the main nodes of SN and DMN. This pattern may help in the early identification of minor HE. Disclosure: Natalia Fim Nakao has nothing to disclose. Julia Espinosa has nothing to disclose. Karen Alves has nothing to disclose. Fernando Romeiro has nothing to disclose. Dr. Betting has nothing to disclose.