Modeling the impact of lesions in the brain

Lim, S., Hutchings, F., and Kaiser, M. (2017). In: Van Ooyen, A., and Butz-Ostendorf, M., eds. The Rewiring Brain: A Computational Approach to Structural Plasticity in the Adult Brain. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 465-484.

Abstract

Brain networks show dynamic activity and plasticity according to intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli constantly adapting to and interacting with their surroundings. Neural systems maintain robust functionality during development and aging, and they can be remarkably robust to physical damages, while being equally vulnerable depending on the nature of damages in the network. The vulnerability of the brain network can be systematically investigated by using lesion modeling. By removing nodes and edges in the network, we can reveal important topological, spatial, and dynamical characteristics of biological networks.

Here, we review topological and dynamical models for lesion modeling. First, we discuss important features of the network crucial to make biological systems resilient to adversarial changes by investigating lesion effects. Next, we introduce topological and dynamical models for lesion studies and relate the model predictions to neurological disorders. Finally, we provide clinical applications of lesion modeling and also future directions for both experimental and computational approaches to achieve personalized treatment of brain diseases, for example, in epilepsy surgery prediction or the assessment of stroke lesions.