TY - JOUR
T1 - Correlation between nerve atrophy, brain grey matter volume and pain severity in patients with primary trigeminal neuralgia
AU - Wang, Yuan
AU - Yang, Qian
AU - Cao, Dongyuan
AU - Seminowicz, David
AU - Remeniuk, Bethany
AU - Gao, Lin
AU - Zhang, Ming
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81301207), Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (No. 2018JM7026), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in Xi’an Jiaotong University (No. xjj2018272), the Clinical Research Award of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, China (No. XJTU1AF-CRF-2015-028), and the Opening Project of Key Laboratory of Shaanxi Province for Craniofacial Precision Medicine Research, College of Stomatology, Xi’an Jiaotong University (No. 2016LHM-KFKT001).
Publisher Copyright:
© International Headache Society 2018.
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - Background: Recent neuroimaging studies have reported grey matter alterations in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients. However, few studies have focused on quantitative measurements of trigeminal nerves and the interaction between trigeminal nerve volume and brain morphology, particularly grey matter volume. In this study, we investigated the link between trigeminal nerves and grey matter volume changes in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients compared to healthy controls. Moreover, we explored the association of structure of trigeminal nerves and grey matter to collected pain clinical variables. Methods: Eighty participants (40 patients and 40 controls) were recruited for the study. All participants underwent MRI sessions and clinical pain assessment. Trigeminal nerve volume and whole brain grey matter volume were evaluated using quantitative imaging techniques. Sensory and affective pain rating indices were assessed using the visual analog scale and short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire. Mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between clinical pain variables and volumetric changes in trigeminal nerves and grey matter. Results: Decreased trigeminal nerve volume was detected in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients compared to controls. Additionally, reduced grey matter volume was found in several regions associated with pain in primary trigeminal neuralgia subjects, including the insula, secondary somatosensory cortex, hippocampus, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and several areas of the temporal lobe. Mediation analysis revealed that decreased trigeminal nerve volume drove grey matter volume abnormality of the left insula, and further led to increased pain ratings. Conclusion: This study showed a predominantly direct effect of trigeminal nerve atrophy on clinical pain variables in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients, providing new insight into the pathophysiology of the disease. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02713646.
AB - Background: Recent neuroimaging studies have reported grey matter alterations in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients. However, few studies have focused on quantitative measurements of trigeminal nerves and the interaction between trigeminal nerve volume and brain morphology, particularly grey matter volume. In this study, we investigated the link between trigeminal nerves and grey matter volume changes in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients compared to healthy controls. Moreover, we explored the association of structure of trigeminal nerves and grey matter to collected pain clinical variables. Methods: Eighty participants (40 patients and 40 controls) were recruited for the study. All participants underwent MRI sessions and clinical pain assessment. Trigeminal nerve volume and whole brain grey matter volume were evaluated using quantitative imaging techniques. Sensory and affective pain rating indices were assessed using the visual analog scale and short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire. Mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between clinical pain variables and volumetric changes in trigeminal nerves and grey matter. Results: Decreased trigeminal nerve volume was detected in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients compared to controls. Additionally, reduced grey matter volume was found in several regions associated with pain in primary trigeminal neuralgia subjects, including the insula, secondary somatosensory cortex, hippocampus, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and several areas of the temporal lobe. Mediation analysis revealed that decreased trigeminal nerve volume drove grey matter volume abnormality of the left insula, and further led to increased pain ratings. Conclusion: This study showed a predominantly direct effect of trigeminal nerve atrophy on clinical pain variables in primary trigeminal neuralgia patients, providing new insight into the pathophysiology of the disease. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02713646.
KW - Primary trigeminal neuralgia
KW - pain ratings
KW - trigeminal nerve
KW - voxel-based morphometry
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U2 - 10.1177/0333102418793643
DO - 10.1177/0333102418793643
M3 - Article
C2 - 30086682
AN - SCOPUS:85052600228
SN - 0333-1024
VL - 39
SP - 515
EP - 525
JO - Cephalalgia
JF - Cephalalgia
IS - 4
ER -