Department of Radiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Br J Radiol. 2021 Apr 1;94(1120):20200990. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20200990. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
Abnormal neuronal activity and functional connectivity have been reported in patients with venous pulsatile tinnitus (PT). As neuronal activity is closely coupled to regional brain perfusion, the purpose of this study was to investigate the cerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations in patients with unilateral venous PT using arterial spin labeling (ASL).
This study included patients with right-sided PT between January 2018 and July 2019. A healthy control (HC) group matched 1:1 for gender and age was also recruited. All subjects underwent ASL scanning using 3.0T MRI. The correlation between altered CBF and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) score as well as PT duration was analyzed.
Twenty-one patients with right-sided PT and 21 HCs were included. The mean PT duration of the patients was 35.9 ± 32.2 months, and the mean THI score was 64.1 ± 20.3. Compared with the HCs, the PT patients exhibited increased CBF in the left inferior parietal gyrus and decreased CBF in the bilateral lingual gyrus (family-wise error corrected, < 0.05). The increased CBF in the left inferior parietal gyrus showed a positive correlation with the THI score in PT patients ( = 0.501, = 0.021).
PT patients exhibit regional CBF alterations. The increased CBF in the left inferior parietal gyrus may reflect the severity of PT.
This study not only presents evidence for the potential neuropathology of PT from the perspective of CBF alterations but also offers a new method for investigating the neuropathological mechanism of PT.
已有研究报道静脉性搏动性耳鸣（PT）患者存在异常神经元活动和功能连接。由于神经元活动与局部脑灌注密切相关，本研究旨在采用动脉自旋标记（ASL）技术研究单侧静脉性 PT 患者的脑血流（CBF）变化。
本研究纳入了 2018 年 1 月至 2019 年 7 月期间右侧 PT 患者。同时招募了性别和年龄与之匹配的健康对照组（HC）。所有受试者均接受了 3.0T MRI 的 ASL 扫描。分析了 CBF 改变与耳鸣残疾量表（THI）评分及 PT 持续时间的相关性。
共纳入 21 例右侧 PT 患者和 21 例 HC。患者的平均 PT 持续时间为 35.9 ± 32.2 个月，平均 THI 评分为 64.1 ± 20.3。与 HC 相比，PT 患者的左侧顶下小叶 CBF 增加，双侧舌回 CBF 减少（经校正的组间误差，<0.05）。PT 患者左侧顶下小叶的 CBF 增加与 THI 评分呈正相关（r=0.501，P=0.021）。
PT 患者存在局部 CBF 改变。左侧顶下小叶 CBF 的增加可能反映了 PT 的严重程度。
本研究不仅从 CBF 改变的角度为 PT 的潜在神经病理学提供了证据，而且为研究 PT 的神经病理学机制提供了一种新方法。
