Altered static and dynamic functional connectivity of visual-oculomotor pathway in childhood basic-type intermittent exotropia

Motivation: To explore the functional abnormalities of the visual-oculomotor pathway in basic-type intermittent exotropia (IXT) children. Goal(s): To uncover the neural basis of basic-type IXT by investigating the functional connectivity (FC) alterations. Approach: We used sliding-window and the k-means to investigate static FC (sFC) and dynamic FC (dFC) alterations. Results: Decreased sFC between right BA19 and left BA8, and between left BA8 and right BA8, increased dFC between left BA19 and right BA18, and between left BA19 and right BA8 were found in IXT children. Moreover, the mean dwell time and fraction time in state 1 were positively associated with the duration of disease. Impact: Children with basic-type IXT exhibited aberrant sFC and dFC in bilateral higher visual cortex-oculomotor cortex pathways. These findings provide a new perspective to understand the neuropathological mechanisms of visual perception and oculomotor impairments associated with basic-type IXT.