Immediate Abnormal Intrinsic Brain Activity Patterns in Patients with End-stage Renal Disease During a Single Dialysis Session

Purpose To investigate cerebral amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) changes during a single hemodialysis (HD) in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who need maintenance HD. Materials and Methods A total of 24 patients and 27 healthy subjects were included. The patients underwent neuropsychological tests and took twice resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) (before and after HD). Healthy group had one rs-fMRI. The zALFF based on rs-fMRI was calculated. Paired t and independent t test was applied to compare zALFF among groups. The associations between zALFF and duration of HD, ultrafiltration volume, and neuropsychological tests was calculated by partial correlation. Results Compared to healthy group, patients before HD showed significant worse performances on digit symbol test (DST) and serial dotting test (SDT). Patients after HD performed DST better than before HD. The patients after HD showed higher zALFF in left putamen than before HD. Multiple regions of both HD groups showed significant lower zALFF than healthy group. The zALFF of left putamen of patients after HD was significant negative correlated with the ultrafiltration volume (R = −0.679). The zALFF in patients before HD exhibited significantly positive or negative correlations with DST and SDT in multiple regions. The zALFF of patients after HD significantly negative correlated with DST in right temporal, positive and negative correlated with ultrafiltration volume in right frontal, left putamen respectively. Conclusion ESRD patients showed changed spontaneous brain activity and cognitive impairments. After a single HD session, patients performed better in neuropsychological test, and spontaneous brain activity changed in left putamen. Ultrafiltration volume might be associated with activity of left putamen.