Decreased spontaneous brain activity in the dorsal visual pathway in age-related macular degeneration patients revealed by fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual loss in the developed world and damages the central retina. Growing evidences demonstrated that AMD patients were associated with brain structure changes in visual pathway. However, it remains unknown whether alterations of spontaneous brain activity changes occur in AMD patients.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of central vision loss on spontaneous brain activity in AMD patients.
Material and Methods: Seventeen AMD patients and 17 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state MRI scans. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFFs) was applied to investigate the spontaneous brain activity changes in AMD patients.
Results: Compared with HC group, AMD patients showed significant decreased fALFF values in the right calcarine/cuneus (brodmann area 17,8) and right superior parietal lobule (brodmann area 7).
Conclusion: Our results showed that AMD patients had decreased brain activities in the dorsal visual pathway, which offer important insights into the neural mechanisms of central visual field defect in AMD patients.
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