Agostini Alessandro, Campieri Massimo, Bertani Angela, Scarcelli Antonella, Ballotta Daniela, Calabrese Carlo, Rizzello Fernando, Gionchetti Paolo, Nichelli Paolo, Benuzzi Francesca
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy ; Department of Clinical Medicine, IBD Unit, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Department of Clinical Medicine, IBD Unit, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Biopsychosoc Med. 2015 Jan 7;9(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s13030-014-0028-7. eCollection 2015.
Recent neuroimaging studies have investigated the brain involvement in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Functional studies found abnormalities in cognitive and emotional functions in CD and UC, while a voxel based morphometry (VBM) study found morphological changes in CD. We conducted a VBM study to compare the gray matter (GM) volume of UC patients and controls.
Eighteen UC patients in remission and eighteen healthy controls underwent structural MRI. VBM is a fully automated technique allowing identification of regional differences in the amount of GM, which enables an objective analysis of the whole brain. VBM was used for comparisons between patients and controls.
UC patients were all in remission and had a mild clinical course. There were no differences between patients and controls in GM volume.
The brain morphology of patients with UC in remission is similar to controls. The lack of GM abnormalities in UC patients might reflect the mild clinical course of the inflammatory bowel disorder. Further research involving patients with different degrees of disease severity or during flares could shed more light on potential brain structural changes in UC.
近期的神经影像学研究对克罗恩病（CD）和溃疡性结肠炎（UC）患者的脑部受累情况进行了调查。功能研究发现CD和UC患者存在认知和情感功能异常，而一项基于体素的形态测量学（VBM）研究发现CD患者存在形态学变化。我们进行了一项VBM研究，以比较UC患者和对照组的灰质（GM）体积。
18例缓解期UC患者和18名健康对照者接受了结构MRI检查。VBM是一种全自动技术，可识别GM量的区域差异，从而能够对全脑进行客观分析。VBM用于患者与对照组之间的比较。
UC患者均处于缓解期，临床病程较轻。患者与对照组之间的GM体积无差异。
缓解期UC患者的脑形态与对照组相似。UC患者缺乏GM异常可能反映了炎症性肠病的轻度临床病程。涉及不同疾病严重程度患者或疾病发作期的进一步研究可能会更清楚地揭示UC潜在的脑结构变化。
