Andras A. Horvath (Hungary)
National Institute of Mental Health, Neurology and Neurosurgery
Neurocognitive Research Center
Dr. Horvath completed his PhD at Semmelweis University in clinical neuroscience. Currently he serves as the head of the Neurocognitive Research Center of the National Institute of Mental Health, Neurology and Neurosurgery. He is also involved as a principal investigator in many national and international scientific studies (e.g. Euro-Fingers Study Hungary). He has worked as a researcher at several international training sites including the NYU Langone Health Center, United States; Hospital Julio Matos, Portugal; University of Libre Brussels, Belgium and ETH Translational Neuromodeling Unit, Switzerland. His major research interest is the physiological background of cognitive impairment and memory decline. He also investigates the impact of sleep changes and epileptic activity on the cognitive performance, mood, anxiety and memory by elderly patients and healthy individuals. He is involved in the education of pre-graduate students and PhD fellows at Semmelweis University as an Assistant Professor. He is an external trustee reviewer by many academic societies and international academic journals. He has more than 40 scientific papers on cognitive decline (independent citations>400), and 100 scientific lectures. He has been awarded with the Junior Prima Award, the Janos Bolyai Research Scholarship, the Merit Excellence Award of Semmelweis University and with the Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Young Investigator Award.

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 Conference Calendar

ALTERATIONS OF VISUO-SPATIAL NETWORK AS AN EARLY DIAGNOSTIC MARKER OF COGNITIVE DECLINE

Session Name
1760 - AD HETEROGEINITY , DIAGNOSTIC AIDS AND CLINICAL TRIALS (ID 193)
Session Type
SYMPOSIUM
Date
Sat, 19.03.2022
Session Time
05:15 PM - 07:45 PM
Room
ONSITE: 113
Lecture Time
06:30 PM - 06:45 PM
Presenter

Abstract

Aims

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the prodromal phase of Alzheimer’s disease preceding the first symptoms of severe cognitive decline with years. Recent studies indicate that changes in the functional brain networks are one of the first markers of MCI. Neuropsychological studies also suggest the early impairment of visuo-spatial skills. The aim of the study was to analyze the cortical visuo-spatial network in MCI.

Methods

50 MCI patients and 50 age matched healthy controls underwent neuropsychological assessment, clinical testing, structural and functional MRI acquisition. We defined parietal, frontal and superior temporal cortical areas as regions of interest in the analysis of fMRI. Seed- to-voxel and seed-to-ROI analyses were performed with FDR correction to estimate the functional connectivity between the cortical areas. Functional connectivity was measured as correlation among the analyzed brain areas and MCI patients were compared to healthy controls.

Results

Significant elevation in the functional connectivity among the short-distance frontal and temporal networks was highlighted in the MCI group compare to controls (p<0.001). Long-distance connections were significantly reduced between the left and right frontal areas between the right frontal and parietal areas in MCI (p<0.001).

Conclusions

Our results show that changes in the visuo-spatial cortical networks are significantly altered in the early phase of cognitive decline. Local connections increase, while commissural and associative connection are reduced. It suggests the relative isolation of neural areas with the loss of long-distance connections. Automated testing of visuo-spatial networks with neuroimaging might serve as a potential novel diagnostic marker for early screening of dementia.

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