Paulo Roberto Lacerda Leal1,2, Jean Roch3, Marc Hermier3, Yves Berthezene3, Marc Sindou4. 1. University of Lyon 1, Lyon, France. prlleal@hotmail.com. 2. Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, 100, Avenida Comandante Maurocelio Rocha Pontes, Sobral, 62042-280, Brazil. prlleal@hotmail.com. 3. Department of Neuroradiology, University of Lyon 1, Lyon, France. 4. University of Lyon 1, Lyon, France.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: As diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is able to assess tissue integrity, authors used diffusion to detect abnormalities in trigeminal nerves (TGN) in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) caused by neurovascular compression (NVC) who had undergone microvascular decompression (MVD). The authors also studied anatomical TGN parameters (cross-sectional area [CSA] and volume [V]). The study compared pre- and postoperative findings. METHODS: Using DTI sequencing on a 3-T MRI scanner, we measured the fraction of anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the TGN in 10 patients who had undergone MVD for TN and in 6 normal subjects. We compared data between affected and unaffected nerves in patients and both nerves in normal subjects (controls). We then correlated these data with CSA and V. Data from the affected side and the unaffected side before and 4 years after MVD were compared. RESULTS: Before MVD, the FA of the affected side (0.37 ± 0.03) was significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to the unaffected side in patients (0.48 ± 0.03) and controls (0.52 ± 0.02), and the ADC in the affected side (5.6 ± 0.34 mm2/s) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared to the unaffected side in patients (4.26 ± 0.25 mm2/s) and controls (3.84 ± 0.18 mm2/s). Affected nerves had smaller V and CSA compared to unaffected nerves and controls (p < 0.05). After MVD, the FA in the affected side (0.41 ± 0.02) remained significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to the unaffected side (0.51 ± 0.02), but the ADC in the affected side (4.24 ± 0.34 mm2/s) had become similar (p > 0.05) to the unaffected side (4.01 ± 0.33 mm2/s). CONCLUSIONS: DTI revealed a loss of anisotropy and an increase in diffusivity in affected nerves before surgery. Diffusion alterations correlated with atrophic changes in patients with TN caused by NVC. After removal of the compression, the loss of FA remained, but ADC normalized in the affected nerves, suggesting improvement in the diffusion of the trigeminal root.
BACKGROUND: As diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is able to assess tissue integrity, authors used diffusion to detect abnormalities in trigeminal nerves (TGN) in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) caused by neurovascular compression (NVC) who had undergone microvascular decompression (MVD). The authors also studied anatomical TGN parameters (cross-sectional area [CSA] and volume [V]). The study compared pre- and postoperative findings. METHODS: Using DTI sequencing on a 3-T MRI scanner, we measured the fraction of anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the TGN in 10 patients who had undergone MVD for TN and in 6 normal subjects. We compared data between affected and unaffected nerves in patients and both nerves in normal subjects (controls). We then correlated these data with CSA and V. Data from the affected side and the unaffected side before and 4 years after MVD were compared. RESULTS: Before MVD, the FA of the affected side (0.37 ± 0.03) was significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to the unaffected side in patients (0.48 ± 0.03) and controls (0.52 ± 0.02), and the ADC in the affected side (5.6 ± 0.34 mm2/s) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared to the unaffected side in patients (4.26 ± 0.25 mm2/s) and controls (3.84 ± 0.18 mm2/s). Affected nerves had smaller V and CSA compared to unaffected nerves and controls (p < 0.05). After MVD, the FA in the affected side (0.41 ± 0.02) remained significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to the unaffected side (0.51 ± 0.02), but the ADC in the affected side (4.24 ± 0.34 mm2/s) had become similar (p > 0.05) to the unaffected side (4.01 ± 0.33 mm2/s). CONCLUSIONS: DTI revealed a loss of anisotropy and an increase in diffusivity in affected nerves before surgery. Diffusion alterations correlated with atrophic changes in patients with TN caused by NVC. After removal of the compression, the loss of FA remained, but ADC normalized in the affected nerves, suggesting improvement in the diffusion of the trigeminal root.
Authors: Bartosz Szmyd; Julia Sołek; Maciej Błaszczyk; Jakub Jankowski; Paweł P Liberski; Dariusz J Jaskólski; Grzegorz Wysiadecki; Filip F Karuga; Agata Gabryelska; Marcin Sochal; R Shane Tubbs; Maciej Radek Journal: Front Mol Neurosci Date: 2022-07-04 Impact factor: 6.261