Investigating the functional communication network in patients with knee osteoarthritis using graph-based statistical models

Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most prevalent type of arthritis that causes persistent pain and reduces the quality of life. However, no treatment alleviates symptoms or stops the disease from progressing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies can provide information on neural mechanisms of pain by assessing correlation patterns among the different regions of the brain. This study aimed to determine brain connectivity patterns in patients with knee osteoarthritis compared to healthy individuals using advanced statistical models.

The data of this study were downloaded from https://openneuro.org/. These data included fMRI imaging of 36 knee osteoarthritis patients with a range age between 45-70 years old and 12 healthy individuals with a range age between 48-78 years old. Graph-based models were used to examine the brain functional alterations in knee osteoarthritis patients.

The results showed a disease-related cluster of eight regions in the brain, including the right Rolandic operculum, right amygdala, left caudate nucleus, left putamen, right putamen, left pallidum, and right pallidum. According to correlation comparisons in the cluster, the connectivity of 18 pair regions revealed a significant difference between the two groups. In comparison to the other regions, the right Rolandic and right amygdala had more communication.

Interestingly, in patients with knee osteoarthritis, the effect of chronic pain can cause functional alterations in the brain.