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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pain Res.
Sec. Headache
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1523845
Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in classical trigeminal neuralgia patients with purely paroxysmal and concomitant continuous pain
Provisionally accepted- 1 The Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
- 2 Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Purely paroxysmal neuralgia (PP-CTN) and concomitant continuous pain (CCP-CTN) are different subtypes of classical trigeminal neuralgia (CTN). Our aim was to explore the common and unique spontaneous brain activity abnormalities between subtypes. A total of 101 PP-CTN patients, 52 CCP-CTN patients, and 122 age-and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. All the subjects underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, and changes in spontaneous brain activity were observed via whole-brain static amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (sALFF) and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF). Compared with HCs, PP-CTN patients presented significantly lower sALFF values in the left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex (CAL), left putamen, and left Rolandic operculum (ROL). Compared with HCs, CCP-CTN patients presented significantly increased sALFF values in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right medial superior frontal gyrus (MSFG), left putamen, right insula, and brainstem. Compared with the PP-CTN group, the CCP-CTN group presented significantly greater sALFF values in the left CAL, left SFG, right MSFG, left putamen, right insula, left ROL and brainstem. The results of the dALFF analysis revealed that, compared with HCs, PP-CTN patients presented increased dALFF values in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) and decreased dALFF values in the right cuneus. Compared with HCs, CCP-CTN patients presented increased dALFF values in the ACG, right insula, and brainstem and decreased dALFF values in the right cuneus. Compared with the PP-CTN group, the CCP-CTN group presented increased dALFF values in the right insula and brainstem. Our findings reveal different neural mechanisms between PP-CTN and CCP-CTN patients, providing important neuroimaging evidence to better understand the pathophysiology of different subtypes of CTN.
Keywords: Classical trigeminal neuralgia, static amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, Dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Chronic Pain
Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 25 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Xie, Ma, Bai, Song, Wu and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yang Gao, The Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
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