Using rsfMRI and ICA in analysis of visual cortex area in healthy and multiple sclerosis patients

Abstract

The aim of this study is to apply the independent component analysis in a GIFT toolbox in a restingstate functional MRI analysis of the visual cortex. The measurements were performed during rest in normal subjects (20) and patients with multiple sclerosis (14) on a 3 T scanner. A number of independent components influencing the visual network in the MS group in comparison with the healthy group is discussed taking into consideration some spectral parameters such as: dynamic range and low frequency fluctuation and value of kurtosis of time courses and spatial maps. Our analyses have shown that healthy patients are characterized by higher and more numerous activations in the visual areas than MS patients. It should be noted that spectral factors such as kurtosis of spatial maps is markedly higher in the healthy group than in the MS one. The number of activations in the visual area of the brain depends on model order ICA as well as on the kind of the group. The majority of activations in the healthy group were found for ICA100 while in MS high model order (80,100) they were not seen.