Han Qi, Zhang Yang, Liu Daihong, Wang Yao, Feng Yajin, Yin Xuntao, Wang Jian
Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing, China.
Department of Otolaryngology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing, China.
Neuroradiology. 2018 Nov;60(11):1193-1201. doi: 10.1007/s00234-018-2087-0. Epub 2018 Aug 29.
The study aimed to investigate the abnormal alterations of both the intra-regional brain activity and inter-regional functional connectivity (FC) in patients with subjective tinnitus (ST) using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) methods.
Twenty-five ST patients and 25 normal controls (NCs) were included and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. ReHo, fALFF, and seed-based FC were calculated and compared between ST patients and NCs. Meanwhile, correlation analyses were calculated between altered connectivity and clinical data in ST patients.
Compared with NCs, ST patients exhibited increased ReHo and fALFF values in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and the ReHo values were also increased in the right cuneus. In contrast, decreased ReHo values in ST patients were observed in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left cerebellar anterior lobe. Considering these brain areas with altered ReHo and fALFF clusters as seeds, the right MTG (ReHo) exhibited decreased connectivity with the right MFG, lingual gyrus, and left cerebellar posterior lobe, besides, the right cuneus showed decreased connectivity with the right MTG. In ST patients, the decreased FC between the right MTG (ReHo) and the right MFG was also positively correlated with the Tinnitus handicap inventory score (r = 0.675, P = 0.001).
The present study revealed that ST patients had altered regional neural activity and inter-regional connectivity in partial auditory and non-auditory brain regions, mainly involving the default mode network and audio-visual network, which could further improve our understanding of the neuroimaging mechanism in ST.
本研究旨在采用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）方法，调查主观性耳鸣（ST）患者脑区局部活动及区域间功能连接（FC）的异常变化。
纳入25例ST患者和25例正常对照（NC），并对其进行静息态功能磁共振成像扫描。计算并比较ST患者和NC之间的局部一致性（ReHo）、低频振幅（fALFF）以及基于种子点的功能连接。同时，计算ST患者中连接性改变与临床数据之间的相关性分析。
与NC相比，ST患者右侧颞中回（MTG）的ReHo和fALFF值升高，右侧楔叶的ReHo值也升高。相反，在右侧额中回（MFG）和左侧小脑前叶观察到ST患者的ReHo值降低。以这些ReHo和fALFF簇改变的脑区为种子点，右侧MTG（ReHo）与右侧MFG、舌回和左侧小脑后叶的连接性降低，此外，右侧楔叶与右侧MTG的连接性降低。在ST患者中，右侧MTG（ReHo）与右侧MFG之间降低的功能连接也与耳鸣障碍量表得分呈正相关（r = 0.675，P = 0.001）。
本研究表明，ST患者在部分听觉和非听觉脑区存在区域神经活动和区域间连接性改变，主要涉及默认模式网络和视听网络，这可能进一步提高我们对ST神经影像学机制的理解。
