Posterior Fossa Arachnoid Cyst in a Pediatric Population is Associated with Social Perception and Rest Cerebral Blood Flow Abnormalities.
Cerebellum. 2019-11-15; 19(1): 58-67
DOI: 10.1007/s12311-019-01082-w
Lire sur PubMed
Posterior fossa arachnoid cysts (PFAC) may produce not only neurological symptoms
but also other symptoms still poorly understood such as behavioral and learning
deficits, awkwardness, and difficulties in social interaction. These subtle
social impairments have not been formally described and their underlying brain
mechanisms remain unknown. In the present case-control study, we aimed to
empirically characterize social impairments in a pediatric population with PFAC
using eye tracking. In addition, we investigated putative functional cortical
abnormalities in these children using arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance
imaging. Overall, 15 patients with PFAC (3f, age = 9.4 ± 4 years) and 43
typically developing volunteer children (16f, age = 9.3 ± 3.6 years) were
enrolled in this study. Eye tracking was used to record gaze patterns during
visualization of social interaction scenes. Viewing times to faces of characters
and non-social background were analyzed. A voxel-wise whole-brain analysis was
performed to investigate rest cerebral blood flow (CBF) abnormalities.
Significantly reduced viewing time to faces was observed in patients compared
with controls (p < 0.01). A ROC curve analysis revealed that 30% of PFAC patients
presented viewing time to the face lower than the cutoff, while none of the
controls did. The whole-brain analysis revealed a significant decrease in rest
CBF in PFAC patients compared with controls bilaterally in the superior temporal
gyrus and the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) (p < 0.05 FWE). These results
suggest that early life PFAC may have an impact on functional activity of the
temporal lobe, which could be associated with social perception deficits.