Altered intrinsic brain activity and regional cerebral blood flow in patients with chronic neck and shoulder pain

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the changes of intrinsic brain activity and regional cerebral blood flow in patients with chronic neck and shoulder pain (CNSP) by using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis and arterial spin labelling study. Material and methods: In total, 28 CNSP patients and 25 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) participated in the study. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI were acquired. Correlations between ALFF and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were analysed. Subsequently, the differences in ALFF and CBF were compared in the two groups. Finally, the visual analogue scale (VAS) was also assessed in the CNSP group. Results: Compared with HCs, CNSP patients showed significantly abnormal ALFF and CBF in several brain regions, including the cerebellum posterior lobe, middle orbitofrontal gyrus, medial superior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, precuneus, cingulate gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, precentral gyrus, and superior parietal gyrus. Correlation analysis showed that the ALFF value of the medial superior frontal gyrus positively correlated with the VAS score. However, no correlation was found between the CBF values and the VAS score. Conclusions: The altered ALFF and CBF values in CNSP patients were observed in different pain-related brain regions that were involved in pain modulation and perception. The combination of rs-fMRI and ASL MRI might provide complementary information for increasing our understanding of the neuropathology in CNSP.

A coordinate-based meta-analysis of acupuncture for chronic pain: Evidence from fMRI studies

“…The cingulate gyrus is part of the DMN and limbic system, involving in pain perception and pain signaling. Patients with persistent neck and shoulder discomfort exhibited aberrant ALFF signal in the cingulate gyrus and precentral gyrus, compared to HCs (Yue and Du, 2020). Also, acupuncture could modulate brain regions involved in limbic system to achieve pain relief or relieve negative effects (Shi et al, 2020), such as hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and anterior cingulate gyrus (Hui et al, 2010).…”

[Retracted] Clinical Application of Evoked Potentials in the Operation of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy with Different Imaging

“…However, in recent years, somatosensory-evoked potential (SEP) is widely used by spine surgeons because of its high specificity to acute spinal cord and nerve injury. [1][2][3] Its application is easier, widely used, and simple and reliable results can be obtained, which is mainly used clinically in cervical spinal radiculopathy with compression of the spinal canal. The significant improvement of SEP waveform in most patients after spinal canal decompression can indicate that the compression is relieved and there is a good prognosis.…”

Plastic Changes in Pain and Motor Network Induced by Chronic Burn Pain

“…The different dimensions of pain intensity are associated with different areas of the brain; sensory-discriminative dimension, emotional dimension, and motor dimension are related to the premotor and supplementary motor area, modulatory dimension is related to the frontal and parietal lobes, and autonomic nervous system dimension is related to the parietal lobe, insular cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex [31]. Parietal lobe is considered to be the region of brain dedicated to pain perception and modulation [31][32][33][34][35].…”