Brain functional organization and structure in patients with arteriovenous malformations

Purpose: Developmental in nature, brain arteriovenous malformations (AVM) have the potential to affect whole brain organization. Here we investigated the impact of AVM on functional and structural brain organization using resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) and cortical thickness measures. Methods: We investigated brain functional organization and structure using rsfMRI in conjunction with cortical thickness analyses in 23 patients with cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and 20 healthy control subjects. Results: Healthy controls showed the expected anti-correlation between activity in the default mode network (DMN) and frontal areas that are part of the attentional control network. By contrast, patients demonstrated a disruption of this anti-correlation. Disruptions to this anti-correlation were even observed in a subgroup of patients with lesions remote from the main nodes of the DMN and were unrelated to differences in perfusion. Functional connectivity differences were accompanied by reduced cortical thickness in frontal attentional areas in patients compared to the controls. Conclusions: These results contribute to the discussion that AVMs affect whole brain networks and not simply the area surrounding the lesion.