Department of Dentistry, Nanchang People's Hospital (Third Hospital of Nanchang).
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
J Craniofac Surg. 2024 Oct 1;35(7):2099-2104. doi: 10.1097/SCS.0000000000010532. Epub 2024 Aug 22.
Acute pericoronitis (AP) is a prevalent cause of odontogenic toothache which can significantly impact brain function. Previous research has predominantly concentrated on localized brain activity. However, the synergistic changes between brain hemispheres induced by toothache and resulting abnormal functional connectivity across the brain have not been comprehensively studied.
A total of 34 patients with AP and 34 healthy individuals, matched for age, sex, and education were recruited for this study. All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-MRI) scans. The voxel mirror homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method was used to identify intergroup differences. Brain regions exhibiting statistically significant differences were selected as regions of interest for further functional connectivity analysis. The partial correlation method was utilized to assess the correlation between abnormal VMHC values in different regions and clinical parameters, with age and sex included as covariates.
Patients with AP exhibited reduced VMHC values in the thalamus and elevated VMHC values in the inferior frontal gyrus compared with healthy controls. Subsequent functional connectivity analyses revealed extensive changes in functional networks, predominantly affecting the default, frontoparietal, cerebellar, and pain networks.
Changes in functional patterns across these brain networks offer novel insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying pain information processing.
急性冠周炎（AP）是一种常见的引起牙痛的病因，可显著影响大脑功能。先前的研究主要集中在局部脑活动上。然而，牙痛引起的大脑两个半球之间的协同变化以及大脑之间异常的功能连接尚未得到全面研究。
本研究共纳入 34 名 AP 患者和 34 名年龄、性别和教育程度相匹配的健康个体。所有参与者均接受静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-MRI）扫描。采用体素镜像同伦连接（VMHC）方法识别组间差异。选择表现出统计学差异的脑区作为进一步功能连接分析的感兴趣区。采用偏相关方法，在控制年龄和性别等协变量的情况下，评估不同脑区异常 VMHC 值与临床参数之间的相关性。
与健康对照组相比，AP 患者的丘脑 VMHC 值降低，额下回 VMHC 值升高。随后的功能连接分析显示，功能网络发生了广泛的变化，主要影响默认网络、额顶叶网络、小脑网络和疼痛网络。
这些脑网络中功能模式的变化为疼痛信息处理的神经生理机制提供了新的见解。
