Altered functional connectivity of large-scale brain networks in psychogenic erectile dysfunction associated with cognitive impairments

Abstract

Abstract Several studies have demonstrated that psychogenic erectile dysfunction (pED) patients potentially suffer from cognitive dysfunction. Despite that previous neuroimaging studies have reported abnormal functional connections of brain areas associated with cognitive function in pED, the underlying mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction in pED remain elusive. Large-scale brain networks might shed light on the neuropsychological cognitive functions in pED. The functional connectivity (FC) of large-scale brain networks was calculated in 30 pED patients and 30 healthy controls. The relationship among cognitive functions and altered FC of large-scale brain networks was further explored in pED patients. Our results showed that the decreased FC within visual network, and between visual network and default mode network, visual network and frontoparietal network, and ventral attention and default mode network were found in pED patients. Furthermore, there was the positive correlation between immediate memory score and FC within visual network. And visuospatial score was negatively correlated with decreased FC between ventral attention network and default mode network. Taken together, our findings revealed the relationship between cognitive impairments and altered FC between large-scale brain networks in pED patients, providing the new evidence about the neural mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction in pED patients.