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Shape deformations of the basal ganglia in patients with classical trigeminal neuralgia: a cross-sectional evaluation

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Abstract

Introduction

Despite the involvement of subcortical brain structures in the pathogenesis of classic trigeminal neuralgia (CTN), the details of morphological abnormalities of basal ganglia to this disorder are still unknown. This study aimed to investigate potential changes in terms of volume and shape of subcortical regions in patients with CTN.

Methods

Forty-eight patients with CTN and 46 matched healthy subjects were recruited in the study. The whole-brain T1 anatomical data was acquired at a 3.0 Tesla scanner using a fast spoiled gradient recalled sequence (FSPGR). Vertex-wise analysis was applied to detect the alterations of volume and shape in each subcortical region in the patients with CTN compared to healthy controls. The relationships of morphological abnormalities in subcortical structures to the severity of orofacial pain and the affective disturbance in the patient group were examined using the multiple linear regression model.

Results

No group difference was found about volumetric measurement in any of the subcortical regions. Vertex-wise analysis revealed areas of significant shape atrophy in bilateral putamen and bilateral pallidum in the patients with CTN compared to healthy controls. Besides, the patient group exhibited shape expansion in the head of the right caudate nucleus compared to healthy subjects. In addition, shape deformation in the head of the right caudate nucleus was positively associated with VAS score in CTN.

Conclusion

The patients with CTN display shape alterations in the specific subregions of basal ganglia, which may contribute to the pathophysiology of this refractory disorder and may be useful for translational medicine.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82171909), the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi (No. 2021SF-091), and the Clinical Research Award of the First Affiliated Hospital of **’an Jiaotong University (No. XJTU1AF-CRF-2020–017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Imaging, the First Affiliated Hospital of **’an Jiaotong University, **’an, 710061, Shaanxi, China

    Hui Xu, Ming Zhang & Yuan Wang

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  1. Hui Xu
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  2. Ming Zhang
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  3. Yuan Wang
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Contributions

H. X. and Y. W. conceived the study, designed the trial, and obtained research funding. H. X. and M. Z. supervised the conduct of the trial and data collection. H. X. provided statistical advice on the study design and analyzed the data; H. X. and Y. W. drafted the manuscript, and all authors contributed substantially to its revision. Y. W. took responsibility for the paper as a whole.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuan Wang.

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This study was approved and consented to by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of **’an Jiaotong University. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants according to the Declaration of Helsinki.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Xu, H., Zhang, M. & Wang, Y. Shape deformations of the basal ganglia in patients with classical trigeminal neuralgia: a cross-sectional evaluation. Neurol Sci 43, 5007–5015 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-022-06091-y

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