A Verbal Fluency Task-Based Brain Activation fMRI Study in Patients with Crohn's Disease in Remission

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In this pilot study, we investigated functional brain activation changes in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) in remission compared to age and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs). METHODS Data from 20 patients with CD in remission (age range 19-63 years) and 20 HCs (matched in age and gender) were analyzed. Task functional MRI (fMRI) data were collected while participants performed a cognitive (phonemic verbal fluency) task in the scanner. All participants also performed the same task outside the scanner. RESULTS Task fMRI results showed greater bi-hemispheric activation in CD patients compared to controls. Because this pattern is commonly reported with normal aging, we performed further analyses to investigate fMRI responses in a subset of the younger CD patients (N = 12, age < = 35 years) compared to matched young HCs (age < = 35 years), and an older cohort of HCs (age > = 50 years). Results showed that task activation patterns were similar between young CD patients and older HCs, and that both groups differed significantly from younger HCs. Activation intensity in specific brain regions for patients was associated with disease duration. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that CD patients in remission may show accelerated signs of aging in terms of brain responses to a typical cognitive task. Future work with larger sample size will need to replicate these results as well as investigate the influence of factors, such as chronicity of the disease and medication effects on task-associated brain activation patterns in this patient population.