Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2013, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (32): 2981-2990.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.32.001

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Differences in brain structure in patients with distinct sites of chronic pain A voxel-based morphometric analysis

Cuiping Mao1, Longxiao Wei1, Qiuli Zhang1, Xia Liao2, Xiaoli Yang2, Ming Zhang1   

  1. 1 Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
    2 Department of Pain, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
  • Received:2013-06-28 Revised:2013-09-28 Online:2013-11-15 Published:2013-11-15
  • Contact: Ming Zhang, M.D., Chief physician, Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University,Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China, profzmmri@gmail.com. Xiaoli Yang, M.D., Chief physician, Department of Pain, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China, pain67@163.com.
  • About author:Cuiping Mao, Studying for doctorate.
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported partially by two grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30870686 and 81371530.

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Abstract:

A reduction in gray matter volume is common in patients with chronic back pain, and different types of pain are associated with gray matter abnormalities in distinct brain regions. To examine differences in brain morphology in patients with low back pain or neck and upper back pain, we investigated changes in gray matter volume in chronic back pain patients having different sites of pain using voxel-based morphometry. A reduction in cortical gray matter volume was found primarily in the left postcentral gyrus and in the left precuneus and bilateral cuneal cortex of patients with low back pain. In these patients, there was an increase in subcortical gray matter volume in the bilateral putamen and accumbens, right pallidum, right caudate nucleus, and left amygdala. In upper back pain patients, reduced cortical gray matter volume was found in the left precentral and left postcentral cortices. Our findings suggest that regional gray matter volume abnormalities in low back pain patients are more extensive than in upper back pain patients. Subcortical gray matter volume increases are found only in patients with low back pain.

Key words: neural regeneration, brain injury, chronic low back pain, upper back pain, voxel-based morphometry, gray matter, magnetic resonance imaging, basal ganglia, atrophy, chronic pain, grants-supported paper, neuroregeneration