Altered Intrinsic Functional Connectivity of the Primary Visual Cortex in Patients with Corneal Ulcer: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Purpose: To investigate differences in the functional connectivity (FC) of the primary visual cortex between patients with corneal ulcer (CU) and healthy controls (HCs) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Patients and methods: A total of 30 patients with CU and 30 HCs were closely matched in terms of sex, age, and level of education. Two-sample t-test, receiver operating characteristic curve, and Pearson's correlation coefficient analyses were used to determine the differences in FC between the two groups, the mean FC value of patients with CU and HCs, and the correlation between FC signal values and clinical manifestations in different brain regions of patients.

Results: The CU group showed significantly elevated FC in the left and right middle frontal gyri and lower FC with the right cuneus compared with the HC group. In addition, the FC of the right cingulate and left superior frontal gyri also increased in the CU group. The receiver operating characteristic curve revealed high diagnostic value in those brain regions.

Conclusion: CU involves aberrant FC of the primary visual cortex in different brain areas, including visual-related and cognitive-related regions. This finding may unveil the underlying neural mechanisms of impaired visual function in CU.