Study of the brain functional and structural characteristics (according to MRI data) in left-sided amblyopia in children

Introduction. Magnetic resonance imaging (in particular, functional MRI) is one of the most informative non-invasive methods for the analysis of structural and functional brain state, and an obvious direction for its development is to study the possibilities of this approach in various fields of medicine, including pediatric ophthalmology. Objective. To determine the interhemispheric asymmetry by structural and functional indices and identify its correlations with each other, as well as with clinical characteristics in children with left-sided amblyopia. Materials and methods. Twenty patients with left–sided amblyopia were included in the MRI examination group, however, according to the results of image quality control, the analyzed sample for structural MRI was 17 patients (age from 6.2 to 15.1 years, average aged of 9.5 ± 2.5 years, 9 boys and 8 girls), for functional resting MRI — 14 patients (aged of from 6.2 to 15.1 years, average age of 9.5 ± 2.5 years, 8 boys and 6 girls). Results. Statistically significant asymmetry indices were identified for the thickness of gray matter in the lateral occipital cortex, for the volume of the thalamus, as well as for the local coherence of the hemodynamic signal in the inferior lateral occipital cortex, primary and secondary visual cortices, and lingual gyrus, although these parameters did not correlate with visual acuity in the amblyopic eye. Conclusion. The findings may be associated with changes in neuroontogenesis, although further studies are required to confirm this.