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. 2021 Dec 23;23(4):773–805. doi: 10.1007/s11154-021-09701-w

Table 2.

Overview on existing bariatric surgery studies. Studies are subdivided by neuroimaging technique. Studies may be listed more than once if more than one neuroimaging technique is applied. For the interpretation of parameters reported in columns “Modelling: Outcome”, “Predictor”, and “Significant prediction results”, please see Table 1

Study Modelling: Outcome #Participants (per group) Experimental design Predictor Pred. meth Significant prediction results
Task-fMRI
Bach et al. [85]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

11 OB: 10 RYGB, 1 SG T0 (2 weeks before surgery) T6.5 (24 weeks after surgery) Voxel CR activity OLS CR_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_6.5: No association between WL and evaluated neuroimaging predictors was found
Smith et al. [176]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

39 OB: 19 RYGB, 20 SG T0 (pre surgery), T6 (after 6 months) Voxel CR activity OLS CR_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_6: Negative association between WL and CR activity of ventral tegmental area after RYGB (but not SG)
Holsen et al. [196]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

18 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T12 (12 months after surgery) Voxel CrvR activity OLS CrvR_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_12: Negative association between WL and upregulated CR activity in ncl. accumbens and hypothalamus
Ness et al. [178]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

19 OB: LAGB T0 (pre surgery), T3 (3 months after surgery), T6 (6 months after surgery) Voxel CR activity OLS

CR_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_3: Positive association between WL and CR activity in left superior frontal and transverse temporal gyrus; Negative association between WL and CR activity in right and left post. cerebellar lobe;

CR_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_6: Positive association between WL and CR activity in right inferior temporal and frontal gyrus, right occipital cortex, left and right post. cerebellar lobe; Negative association between WL and CR activity in right cuneus, left precuneus, and left superior frontal gyrus

Bruce et al. [197]

Prognostic:

Eating behavior

10 OB: LAGB T0 (pre surgery), T3 (12 weeks after surgery) Voxel CR activity OLS CR_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_3: Negative association between reduction in disinhibited eating behavior and CR activity in right inferior frontal gyrus
Hu et al. [99]

Associations:

Bodyweight

25 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery), T6 (6 months after surgery) Seed-to-voxel CR FC; averaged voxel FA in tracts connecting atlas regions OLS

CR_fMRI_T0_1 → OUT_T0_1: Positive association between WL and changes in CR FC between right dlPFC and ACC;

DTI_sMRI_T0_6 → OUT_T0_6: Positive association between WL and changes of average FA of tract connecting right dlPFC and pregenual ACC

Li et al. [100]

Associations:

Bodyweight

22 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery) Seed-to-voxel CR FC OLS CR_fMRI_T0_1 → OUT_T0_1: Positive association between surgery-induced WL and surgery-induced increase in CR FC of right dlPFC and ACC
Zoon et al. [198] Associations: Eating behavior 19 OB: RYGB T0 (pre surgery), T2 (2 months after surgery) Voxel CR activity OLS CR_fMRI_T0_2 → OUT_T0_2: Negative association between surgery-related shift in food preferences from high-fat/sweet to low-energy/savory foods and surgery-related CR activity of superior parietal lobule in response to high-energy food odor and with surgery-related activity of precuneus in response to high-energy food pictures
Ochner et al. [177] Associations: Food craving 14 OB: RYGB T0 (1 month before surgery), T2 (1 month after surgery) Voxel CR activity OLS CR_fMRI_T0_2 → OUT_T0_2: Positive association between surgery-induced changes in food wanting and changes in CR activity of caudate, lentiform nucleus, middle and superior frontal gyri, inferior parietal lobule, anterior cingulate, and thalamus. Positive association between surgery-induced changes in food liking and changes in precuneus CR activity
Resting-state fMRI
Zhang et al. [130]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

37 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T6 (after 6 months) Principal components of RS FC between atlas regions

TWK

(CV)

RS_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_18: Accuracy for classifying successful vs. non-successful WL based on RS FC of 84%
Cerit et al. [126]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

14 OB: SG T0 (1 month before surgery), T13 (12 months after surgery) Seed-to-voxel RS FC OLS RS_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_13: Positive association between WL and RS FC between right ncl. accumbens and left insula and between WL and RS FC between left hypothalamus and left precentral gyrus
Olivo et al. [131]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

16 OB: RYGB T0 (1 month before surgery) T2 (1 month after surgery), T13 (12 months after surgery) RS FC between atlas regions OLS RS_fMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_13: Positive association between WL and RS FC of right paracingulate gyrus and the right amygdala
Schmidt et al. [127]

Associations:

Bodyweight

14 OB: RYGB T0 (pre surgery), T8 (8 months after surgery) Seed-to-voxel RS FC

OLS

(CV)

RS_fMRI_T0_8 → OUT_T0_8: Association between surgery-induced body weight changes and RS FC of ventromedial PFC and ventral striatum
Duan et al. [112]

Associations:

Bodyweight

16 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery) Voxel ALFF OLS RS_fMRI_T0_1 → OUT_T0_1: Positive association between surgery-induced WL and surgery-induced ALFF reduction in OFC
Li et al. [111]

Associations:

Bodyweight

22 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery) Voxel FCD OLS RS_fMRI_T0_1 → OUT_T0_1: Negative association between surgery-induced WL and surgery-induced change in local FCD in vmPFC and posterior cingulate gyrus/precuneus
Li et al. [118]

Associations:

Bodyweight

17 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T4 (4 months after surgery) Voxel fractional ALFF; RS FC between atlas regions OLS

RS_fMRI_T0_4 → OUT_T0_4: Association between body weight and fractional ALFF in reward processing and cognitive control regions comprising OFC, gyrus rectus, superior frontal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus

RS_fMRI_T0_4 → OUT_T0_4: Association between body weight and FC between reward processing and cognitive control regions comprising OFC, gyrus rectus, superior frontal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus

Dong et al. [128]

Associations:

Addiction-

like symptoms

14 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T6 (6 months after surgery) RS FC between atlas regions OLS RS_fMRI_T0_6 → OUT_T0_6: Positive association between addiction-like obesity symptoms (e.g., continued use despite problems, tolerance, withdrawal, dependence on food) and RS FC of precuneus and putamen
Zhang et al. [113]

Associations:

Anxiety

30 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery) Voxel ALFF OLS RS_fMRI_T0 _1 → OUT_T0_1: Positive association between surgery-induced WL and surgery-induced ALFF reduction in OFC
Saindane et al. [123]

Associations:

Cognitive functions

8 OB: Type of surgery not described T0 (3 to 0 months before surgery), T4.5 (0 to 6 months after surgery) ICs extracted from RS fMRI OLS RS_fMRI_T0_9 → OUT_T0_9: Positive association between surgery-related changes in pattern comparison performance and surgery-related changes in RS FC of a left executive control network
Positron-Emission-Tomography
Karlsson et al. [73] Prognostic: Bodyweight 19 OB: 6 RYGB, 13 SG T0 (pre surgery), T3 (3 months after surgery), T6 (6 months after surgery), T12 (12 months after surgery), T24 (24 months after surgery) Voxel [11C] carfentanil radiotracer binding; voxel [11C]raclopride binding OLS

PET_T0 → OUT_T3: Negative association between body weight and μ-opioid receptor availability in amygdala, insula, ventral striatum, and putamen

PET_T0 → OUT_T6 Negative association between body weight and μ-opioid receptor availability in amygdala

PET_T0 → OUT_T12 Negative association between body weight and μ-opioid receptor availability in amygdala

PET_T0 → OUT_T24 Negative association between body weight and μ-opioid receptor availability in amygdala and thalamus

PET_T0 → OUT_T3, PET_T0 → OUT_T6, PET_T0 → OUT_T12, PET_T0 → OUT_T24: For none of the time points, an association between future body weight and D2R availability was found

Steele et al. [72]

Associations:

Bodyweight

5 OB: RYGB T0 (Pre surgery), T1.5 (4 to 6 weeks after surgery) Voxel [11C] raclopride radiotracer binding VIS PET_T0_1.5 → OUT_T0_1.5: Negative association between surgery-related changes in bodyweight and surgery-related changes in D2-receptor availability
Structural neuroimaging
Tuulari et al. [142]

Prognostic:

Bodyweight

40 OB: 19 RYGB, 21 SG T0 (pre surgery), T6 (6 months after surgery) Voxel GM volume; voxel WM volume OLS

VBM_sMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_6: Positive associations between WL and GM volume in frontotemporal, thalamic, insular, and cerebellar areas;

VBM_sMRI_T0 → OUT_T0_6: Positive association between WL and WM volume in frontotemporal areas

Hu et al. [99]

Associations:

Bodyweight

25 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery), T6 (6 months after surgery) Averaged voxel FA in tracts connecting atlas regions; Seed-to-voxel CR FC OLS

DTI_sMRI_T0_6 → OUT_T0_6: Positive association between WL and changes of average FA of tract connecting right dlPFC and pregenual ACC;

CR_fMRI_T0_1 → OUT_T0_1: Positive association between WL and changes in CR FC between right dlPFC and ACC

Michaud et al. [136]

Associations:

Bodyweight

29 OB: SG T0 (1 month before surgery), T5 (4 months after surgery), T13 (12 months after surgery) Voxel WM volume averaged across atlas regions LMM VBM_sMRI_T0_T5_T13 → OUT_T0_T5_T13: Negative association between body weight variation and WM volume in the cingulum, cerebellar peduncle, and parietopontine tract
Liu et al. [148]

Associations:

Bodyweight

22 OB: SG T0 (pre surgery), T1 (1 month after surgery) CT aggregated across vertices in atlas regions OLS CT_sMRI_T0_1 → OUT_T0_1: Uncorrected negative association between WL and CT of the superior frontal gyrus
Rullmann et al. [137] Associations: Bodyweight 27 OB: RYGB T0 (pre surgery), T6 (6 month after surgery), T12 (12 month after surgery) Voxel GM volume OLS

VBM_sMRI_T0_6 → OUT_T0_6: Negative association between WL and GM volume in the hypothalamus and the left postcentral gyrus

VBM_sMRI_T0_6 → OUT_T0_6: Positive association between WL and GM volume in the right lateral OFC

ACC anterior cingulate cortex, ALFF Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations, CrvR craving regulation, CT cortical thickness, CR cue reactivity, CV cross validation, dlPFC dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dmPFC dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, FA fractional anisotropy, FC functional connectivity, FCD functional connectivity density, fMRI – functional magnetic resonance imaging, GM grey matter, IC independent components, LAGB laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, LMM(r) (robust) linear mixed model regression, ncl nucleus, OB obese OFC orbitofrontal cortex, OLS ordinary least square regression, OUT outcome marker, OW overweight, PET Positron-Emission-Tomography, PFC prefrontal cortex, Pred. meth Computational prediction method, RS resting-state, RYGB Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, SG sleeve gastrectomy, sMRI structural magnetic resonance imaging, TWK twin networks and k-nearest neighbor clustering, VBM voxel based morphometry, VIS visual interpretation, vmPFC ventromedial prefrontal cortex, WL weight loss, WM white matter