Abstract #1423

Delayed conscious access assessed by structural connectivity and task-based fMRI using visual backward masking paradigm in Multiple Sclerosis.

Arzu Ceylan Has Silemek¹, Jean-Philippe Ranjeva^2,3, Bertrand Audoin^2,3, Christoph Heesen^1,4, Stefan M. Gold^1,5, and Jan-Patrick Stellmann^2,3

¹Institut für Neuroimmunologie und Multiple Sklerose (INIMS), Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany, ²CRMBM AMU-CNRS , Marseille, France, Marseille, France, ³CEMEREM, APHM, CHU Timone, Marseille France, Marseille, France, ⁴Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurologie, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, ⁵Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Klinik für Psychiatrie & Psychotherapie und Medizinische Klinik m.S. Psychosomatik, Campus Benjamin Franklin (CBF), Berlin, Germany

Visual backward masking paradigm (VB) distinguishes between conscious and unconscious processes and evaluates fundamental brain functions and cognition. Delayed consciousness was shown as related with white matter damage in early Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, it is unknown, if regional brain activity and structural connectivity are related to delayed consciousness in MS. We investigated the impaired access to consciousness in MS[25(MS)/37(controls)] using task-based-fMRI based on the VB and its relation with structural connectivity. Lower activation was detected in unconscious-processing in MS vs controls. Strong relationship between VB-performance and lower structural connectivity in ventral-attention/visual/default-mode networks supports the sensitivity of VB in MS.

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