Abstract
Objectives
To characterize the structural plasticity of the contralesional hippocampus and its subfields in patients with unilateral glioma.
Methods
3D T1-weighted MRI images were collected from 55 patients with tumors infiltrating the left (HipL, n = 27) or right (HipR, n = 28) hippocampus, along with 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Gray matter volume differences of the contralesional hippocampal regions and three control regions (superior frontal gyrus, caudate nucleus, and superior occipital gyrus) were evaluated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses. Volumetric differences in the hippocampus and its subregional volume were measured using the FreeSurfer software.
Results
Compared with HC, patients with unilateral hippocampal glioma exhibited significantly larger gray matter volume in the contralesional hippocampus and parahippocampal regions (cluster = 571 voxels for HipL; cluster 1 = 538 voxels and cluster 2 = 88 voxels for HipR; family-wise error corrected p < 0.05). No significant alterations were found in control regions. Volumetric analyses showed the same trend in the contralesional hippocampal subregions for both patient groups, including the CA1 head, CA3 head, hippocampus amygdala transition area (HATA), fimbria, and the granule cell molecular layer of the dentate gyrus head (GC-ML-DG head). Notably, the differences of the contralesional HATA (HipL: η2 = 0.418, corrected p = 0.002; HipR: η2 = 0.313, corrected p = 0.052) and fimbria (HipL: η2 = 0.450, corrected p < 0.001; HipR: η2 = 0.358, corrected p = 0.012) still held after the Bonferroni correction.
Conclusions
Our findings provide evidence for macrostructural plasticity of the contralateral hippocampus in patients with unilateral hippocampal glioma. Specifically, HATA and fimbria exhibit great potential in this process.
Key Points
• Glioma infiltration of the hippocampal regions induces a significant increase in gray matter volume on the contralateral side.
• Specifically, the HATA and fimbria regions exhibit favorable plastic potential in the process of lesion-induced structural remolding.
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Abbreviations
- CA:
-
Cornu ammonis area
- DG:
-
Dentate gyrus
- GC-ML-DG:
-
The granule cell molecular layer of the dentate gyrus
- GM:
-
Gray matter
- HATA:
-
Hippocampus amygdala transition area
- HC:
-
Healthy controls
- HipL/R:
-
Patients with tumors infiltrating the left/right hippocampus
- IDH:
-
Isocitrate dehydrogenase
- LGG:
-
Lower-grade glioma
- MANCOVA:
-
Multivariate analysis of covariance
- MNI:
-
Montreal Neurological Institute
- ROI:
-
Region of interest
- TFCE-FWE:
-
Threshold-free cluster enhancement family-wise error
- TIV:
-
Total intracranial volume
- VBG:
-
Virtual brain grafting
- VBM:
-
Voxel-based morphometry
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Prof. Ahmed M. Radwan and his team for their open-source code base, as well as the healthy volunteers and patients for their participation.
Funding
This study has received funding from the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (No. SJCX21_0643), the Jiangsu Provincial Medical Innovation Team (No. CXTDA2017050), and Jiangsu Provincial Health Commission (M2021003).
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The scientific guarantor of this publication is Prof. Hongyi Liu.
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The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.
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Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study.
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Institutional Review Board approval was obtained.
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• retrospective
• case–control study
• performed at one institution
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Liu, D., Chen, J., Ge, H. et al. Structural plasticity of the contralesional hippocampus and its subfields in patients with glioma. Eur Radiol 33, 6107–6115 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-023-09582-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-023-09582-4