Abnormal brain white matter in patients with hemifacial spasm: a diffusion tensor imaging study

Guo, Chenguang; Xu, Hui; Niu, Xuan; Krimmel, Samuel R.; Liu, Jixin; Gao, Lin; Zhang, Ming; Wang, Yuan

doi:10.1007/s00234-019-02318-6

Cited by 9 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In addition, the ventral rostral subregion of the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex is a part of the limbic system, and is believed to be involved in the generation of emotional responses. 11 Moreover, in the previous studies, a relatively small sample may reduce the consistency and reliability of the results (Bao et al collected…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Alterations of white matter tracts and topological properties of structural networks in hemifacial spasm

et al. 2022

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Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is characterized by involuntary and paroxysmal muscle contractions on the hemiface. It is generally believed that HFS is caused by neurovascular compression at the root exit zone of the facial nerve. In recent years, the structural alterations of brains with HFS have aroused growing concern. However, little attention has been directed towards the possible involvement of specific white matter (WM) tracts and the topological properties of structural networks in HFS. In the present study, diffusion magnetic resonance imaging tractography was utilized to construct structural networks and perform tractometric analysis. The diffusion tensor imaging scalar parameters along with the WM tracts, and the topological parameters of global networks and subnetworks, were assessed in 62 HFS patients and 57 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs). Moreover, we investigated the correlation of these parameters with disease‐clinical‐level (DCL) and disease‐duration‐time (DDT) of HFS patients. Compared with HCs, HFS patients had additional hub regions including the amygdala, ventromedial putamen, lateral occipital cortex, and rostral cuneus gyrus. Furthermore, HFS patients showed significant alternations with specific topological properties in some structural subnetworks, including the limbic, default mode, dorsal attention, somato‐motor, and control networks, as well as diffusion properties in some WM tracts, including the superior longitudinal fasciculus, cingulum bundle, thalamo‐frontal, and corpus callosum. These subnetworks and tracts were associated with the regulation of emotion, motor function, vision, and attention. Notably, we also found that the parameters with subnetworks and tracts exhibited correlations with DCL and DDT. In addition to corroborating previous findings in HFS, this study demonstrates the changed microstructures in specific locations along with the fiber tracts and changed topological properties in structural subnetworks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In recent years, it has been reported that HFS is related to the central nervous system (CNS) 8–11 . On one hand, researchers demonstrated the different effects of desflurane on facial motor‐evoked potentials between the spasm and nonspasm sides of patients who were undergoing MVD surgery 7,12,13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alterations of white matter tracts and topological properties of structural networks in hemifacial spasm

et al. 2022

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“…Recently, TBSS studies of HFS patients demonstrated contradictory results. Guo et al 17 found extensive disruptions of white matter integrity, especially the RD changes in right inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus. In their study, the patients with HFS had shorter duration, lower Cohen grading and received no mediation, which could account for the differences between the 2 results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…15,16 Tu et al 9 found that there might be no damage to the white matter microstructure in HFS patients by TBSS technology. While Guo et al 17 showed that the FA value of inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus decreased significantly through TBSS technology, indicating that there were extensive disruptions of white matter integrity in HFS patients. At present, there are few studies on DTI for HFS, and the preliminary research results still need more experiments to further verify its reliability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Brain Structure Alterations in Hemifacial Spasm: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

Zhang¹,

Yu²,

et al. 2020

Clin EEG Neurosci

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This study examined white matter integrity in patients with left-sided hemifacial spasm (HFS) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Thirty-six patients with left-sided HFS (mean age 53.24 ± 8.16 years) and 36 healthy volunteers (mean age 53.92 ± 7.73 years) were recruited. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis revealed significantly increased fractional anisotropy (FA) of bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus in HFS patients ( P < 0.05, family-wise error corrected), with trends for radial diffusivity to decrease. We inferred that the results may be associated with poor sleep quality, impairment in visuospatial construction, and activity-dependent increases in myelination in HFS patients. Furthermore, the FA value of left superior longitudinal fasciculus showed a positive correlation with HFS duration ( r = 0.352, P = .041) and spasm severity ( r = 0.416, P = .014). However, the alteration of medial diffusivity and axial diffusivity were not found in bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus between groups. These findings suggest FA changes of superior longitudinal fasciculus reflected by TBSS analysis may provide valuable insights into the diagnosis of HFS.

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“…Previous studies have demonstrated gray and white matter abnormalities and glucose hypermetabolism in the brain of HFS patients using structural MRI (Bao et al, 2015;Tu et al, 2016;Guo et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2019) and positron emission tomography (PET) (Shimizu et al, 2012). However, only two studies have investigated brain functional alterations in HFS patients through resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) until now, which is of advantage because subjects do not need to participate in complicated tasks under clinical conditions (Biswal et al, 1995;Fox and Raichle, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abnormal Regional Spontaneous Brain Activity and Its Indirect Effect on Spasm Ratings in Patients With Hemifacial Spasm

Luo

Zhang

et al. 2020

Front. Neurosci.

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PurposeThree classical methods of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were employed to explore the local functional abnormalities and their effect on spasm ratings in hemifacial spasm (HFS) patients.MethodsThirty HFS patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Rs-fMRI data, neurovascular compression (NVC) degree and spasm severity were collected in each subject. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated in the whole brain voxels. Two sample t-tests were performed to investigate group differences of fALFF, ReHo, and DC. Correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationships between the regional brain abnormalities and clinical variables in HFS.ResultsCompared with HCs, HFS patients exhibited increased fALFF in the left precuneus and right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), together with increased ReHo in the bilateral PCC and bilateral precuneus. Decreased ReHo was observed in the right middle occipital gyrus (MOG), right superior occipital gyrus (SOG), right cuneus, and right angular gyrus (AG) in HFS patients. Moreover, ReHo in the right PCC were positively correlated with NVC degree and spasm severity in HFS patients, respectively. Mediation analysis revealed that increased ReHo in the right PCC regulated the neurovascular compression degree, and further resulted in increased spasm ratings.ConclusionOur study revealed regional brain dysfunctions from different perspectives and an indirect effect of ReHo in right PCC on spasm ratings predominantly through the alteration of NVC.

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Abnormal brain white matter in patients with hemifacial spasm: a diffusion tensor imaging study

Cited by 9 publications

References 27 publications

Alterations of white matter tracts and topological properties of structural networks in hemifacial spasm

Alterations of white matter tracts and topological properties of structural networks in hemifacial spasm

Brain Structure Alterations in Hemifacial Spasm: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

Abnormal Regional Spontaneous Brain Activity and Its Indirect Effect on Spasm Ratings in Patients With Hemifacial Spasm

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