Abstract: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are often complicated with brain damages including organic lesions (such as cerebrovascular disease, cerebral white matter change, cerebral atrophy), metabolic abnormalities (such as changes of lipid, calcium and phosphate metabolism), and functional changes (such as early cognitive deficits). These brain damages may gradually progress into cognitive dysfunctions. Studies on brain damage in CKD patients are increased in recent years. Many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technologies for the evaluation of brain damages have been developed, such as voxel-based morphometry MRI (VBM-MRI), diffusion tensor imaging MRI (DTI-MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy MRI (MRS-MRI), arterial spin labelling MRI (ASL-MRI), blood oxygen level dependent MRI (BOLD-MRI) and vessel wall MRI (vwMRI). This article reviews the research progresses in multimodal fMRI in the assessment of brain damage in CKD patients.

Key words: Functional magnetic resonance imaging, Brain damage, Chronic kidney disease