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Background Minimal hepatic encephalopathy has atypical clinical symptoms but mild neuropsychiatric deficits, which are easily neglected by patients and their family members as a specific type of hepatic encephalopathy. The degree centrality (DC) analysis method based on resting-state blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) is a data analysis method derived from graph-theoretic approach reflecting whole-brain network connectivity, which can provide a more complete, faster and better representation of brain function. Objective To explore the effects of abnormal changes in the brain functional network connectivity properties and functional brain regions on cognitive function in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy and their neuroimaging mechanisms. Methods A total of 65 patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis hospitalized in the department of infectious diseases in General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University from October 2020 to February 2022 and 40 healthy volunteers recruited during the same period were selected as the study subjects. Gender, age, education level, number connection test A (NCT-A) score, digit symbol test (DST) score and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) score of the study subjects were collected. Finally, patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis were divided into cirrhosis group (n=30) and MHE group (n=28) according to NCT-A and DST scores, and the recruited healthy volunteers were considered as the healthy control group (n=34) . The DC values of brain regions in each group were calculate, the differences in DC values of brain image between MHE group and cirrhosis group, cirrhosis group and healthy control group, MHE group and healthy control group were compared, respectively. The correlations between the DC values of brain regions with the scores of NCT-A, DST and MoCA in MHE patients was analyzed by using person correlation analysis, the distribution of brain regions with DC values correlated with the scores of above scales and the corresponding scatter plots were drawn. Results The NCT-A score in the healthy control and cirrhotic group was lower than MHE group, DST score and MoCA score in the healthy control and cirrhotic group were higher than MHE group (P18, P18, P18, P |
