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Subarachnoid hemorrhage and visuospatial and visuoperceptive impairment: disruption of the mirror neuron system

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Abstract

Nearly 20 % of patients who suffer a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) still display cognitive impairment even a year after follow-up. Visuospatial and visuoperceptive domains may be impaired in this cognitive impairment and may not have been fully studied in these patients. Furthermore, these cognitively impaired domains have been associated with activity in the so-called mirror neuron system (MNS). The aim of the study is to analyze the pattern of brain activity with an MNS task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in SAH patients. A complete neuropsychological assessment and fMRI study (with observation and execution conditions) were performed in patients with a history of SAH registered in the database of the Hospital Universitario de Canarias and a healthy control group. The patients had to meet all the following inclusion criteria for the study (less than 50 years old; SAH with a Fisher score 1–3; no vasospasm or ischemia; minimum follow-up of one year). Twelve SAH patients were studied. Three of which displayed visuospatial/visuoperceptive impairment. fMRI study showed the presence of higher activity in MNS regions in these patients than in patients with normal visuospatial/visuoperceptive functions. Furthermore, there was a negative correlation between the test scores and brain activity in premotor regions of the studied patients. SAH patients with visuospatial/visuoperceptive impairment have greater activity in the MNS regions. This finding may be associated with a subcortical dysfunction, leading to a disruption of neural activity and less efficient behavior of this brain network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain

    Julio Plata-Bello, Cristián Modroño, Francisco Marcano & José Luis González–Mora

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, S/C de Tenerife, Spain

    Julio Plata-Bello, Silvia Acosta-López & Víctor García-Marín

  3. Neuroscience department, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Calle Ofra s/n La Cuesta, 38320, La Laguna, S/C de Tenerife, CP, Spain

    Julio Plata-Bello

  4. Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, S/C de Tenerife, Spain

    Yaiza Pérez-Martín

Authors
  1. Julio Plata-Bello
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  2. Cristián Modroño
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  3. Silvia Acosta-López
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  4. Yaiza Pérez-Martín
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  5. Francisco Marcano
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  6. Víctor García-Marín
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  7. José Luis González–Mora
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Correspondence to Julio Plata-Bello.

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The study was approved by the University of La Laguna Ethics Committee, according to the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Written informed consent was explained and signed by the patients and the control subjects.

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Plata-Bello, J., Modroño, C., Acosta-López, S. et al. Subarachnoid hemorrhage and visuospatial and visuoperceptive impairment: disruption of the mirror neuron system. Brain Imaging and Behavior 11, 1538–1547 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-016-9609-3

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