Stroke is one of the leading causes of substantial disability worldwide. Previous studies have shown brain functional and structural alterations in adults with stroke. However, few studies have examined the longitudinal reorganization in whole-brain structural networks in stroke. Here, we applied graph theoretical analysis to investigate the longitudinal topological organization of white matter networks in 20 ischemic stroke patients with a one-month interval between two timepoints. Two sets of clinical scores, Fugl-Meyer motor assessment (FMA) and neurological deficit scores (NDS), were assessed for all patients on the day the image data were collected. The stroke patients exhibited significant increases in FMA scores and significant reductions in DNS between the two timepoints. All groups exhibited small-world organization (σ > 1) in the brain structural network, including a high clustering coefficient (γ > 1) and a low normalized characteristic path length (λ ≈ 1). However, compared to healthy controls, stroke patients showed significant decrease in nodal characteristics at the first timepoint, primarily in the right supplementary motor area, right middle temporal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobe, right postcentral gyrus and left posterior cingulate gyrus. Longitudinal results demonstrated that altered nodal characteristics were partially restored one month later. Additionally, significant correlations between the nodal characteristics of the right supplementary motor area and the clinical scale scores (FMA and NDS) were observed in stroke patients. Similar behavioral-neuroimaging correlations were found in the right inferior parietal lobe. Altered topological properties may be an effect of stroke, which can be modulated during recovery. The longitudinal results and the neuroimaging-behavioral relationship may provide information for understanding brain recovery from stroke. Future studies should detect whether observed changes in structural topological properties can predict the recovery of daily cognitive function in stroke.

中文翻译：

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结构网络的破坏拓扑特性显示缺血性中风患者恢复：纵向设计研究

中风是全世界严重残疾的主要原因之一。先前的研究表明，中风成人的大脑功能和结构发生了变化。然而，很少有研究检查中风全脑结构网络的纵向重组。在这里，我们应用图论分析来研究 20 名缺血性卒中患者白质网络的纵向拓扑组织，两个时间点之间的间隔为一个月。在收集图像数据的当天对所有患者进行两组临床评分，Fugl-Meyer 运动评估 (FMA) 和神经功能缺损评分 (NDS)。中风患者在两个时间点之间表现出 FMA 评分显着增加和 DNS 显着降低。所有组都表现出小世界组织（σ > 1）在大脑结构网络中，包括高聚类系数（γ> 1）和低归一化特征路径长度（λ≈1）。然而，与健康对照组相比，中风患者在第一个时间点的淋巴结特征显着下降，主要在右侧辅助运动区、右侧颞中回、右侧顶下叶、右侧中央后回和左侧后扣带回。纵向结果表明，一个月后，改变的淋巴结特征部分恢复。此外，在中风患者中观察到右侧辅助运动区的淋巴结特征与临床量表评分（FMA 和 NDS）之间存在显着相关性。在右下顶叶中发现了类似的行为神经影像学相关性。改变的拓扑特性可能是中风的影响，可以在恢复期间进行调节。纵向结果和神经影像 - 行为关系可能为了解脑卒中恢复提供信息。未来的研究应该检测观察到的结构拓扑特性的变化是否可以预测中风患者日常认知功能的恢复。