Li W C, Tu C H, Chao H T, Yeh T C, Chen L F, Hsieh J C
Institute of Brain Science, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Integrated Brain Research Unit, Division of Clinical Research, Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan.
Eur J Pain. 2015 Sep;19(8):1071-4. doi: 10.1002/ejp.639. Epub 2014 Dec 8.
Primary dysmenorrhoea (PDM) is inexorably common. PDM women suffer from cramping pain in the lower abdomen that starts with menstruation and lasts for 24-72 h. Up to 90% of adolescent girls and more than 50% of menstruating women worldwide report suffering from it. Ten to 20% of PDM women describe their suffering as severe and distressing. However, nothing is known regarding the association of PDM with possible brain anomalies or abnormalities.
High-resolution T1-weighted anatomical brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired for each subject and inspected for incidental findings (normal variants and abnormalities) as a routine procedure in our PDM-related multimodal neuroimaging studies. Altogether, 330 right-handed young women [otherwise healthy PDMs = 163; non-PDM healthy controls (HCs) = 167] were enrolled during the period of 2006-2014. Binomial proportion test was performed for between-group comparisons.
PDMs demonstrated significantly higher prevalence of overall incidental brain MRI findings (PDMs: n = 18, 11.0%; HCs: n = 6, 3.6%; p = 0.005) that should be ascribed to a preponderance of normal variants (PDMs: n = 16, 9.8%; HCs: n = 3, 1.8%; p = 0.001), especially cavum septum pellucidum. No significant between-group difference of abnormal findings was found (PDMs: n = 2, 1.2%; HCs: n = 3, 1.8%; p = 0.336).
We report here that otherwise healthy PDMs are associated with high prevalence of normal variants but not brain abnormalities. Our observations invite further epidemiological and neuroscientific studies.
原发性痛经(PDM)极为常见。患有PDM的女性会经历下腹部痉挛性疼痛,该疼痛始于月经来潮并持续24 - 72小时。全球多达90%的青春期女孩和超过50%的成年女性报告患有此病。10%至20%的PDM女性称其痛苦程度严重且令人苦恼。然而,关于PDM与可能的脑部异常或畸形之间的关联尚无定论。
在我们与PDM相关的多模态神经影像学研究中,为每位受试者采集了高分辨率T1加权脑部解剖磁共振成像(MRI),并将偶然发现(正常变异和异常)作为常规检查项目。2006年至2014年期间,共纳入了330名右利手年轻女性[健康的PDM患者 = 163名;非PDM健康对照(HCs)= 167名]。采用二项比例检验进行组间比较。
PDM患者总体脑部MRI偶然发现的患病率显著更高(PDM患者:n = 18,11.0%;HCs:n = 6,3.6%;p = 0.005),这主要归因于正常变异占优势(PDM患者:n = 16,9.8%;HCs:n = 3,1.8%;p = 0.001),尤其是透明隔腔。未发现异常发现的组间显著差异(PDM患者:n = 2,1.2%;HCs:n = 3,1.8%;p = 0.336)。
我们在此报告,健康的PDM患者与正常变异的高患病率相关,但与脑部异常无关。我们的观察结果有待进一步的流行病学和神经科学研究。