PURPOSE Refractory hemifacial contraction and comorbid emotional disorders are major annoyance suffered by patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS). It is currently unknown how whiter matter (WM) abnormalities in the brain contribute to HFS. METHODS To investigate WM alterations in HFS, 26 patients and 29 matched healthy controls were ultimately recruited in this experiment. The whole brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was acquired at 3.0 Tesla scanner. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis was applied to investigate the differences of DTI metrics (fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD) axial diffusivity (AD)) between HFS patients and controls throughout brain WM. The relationship between the severity of facial spasm and affective disturbance in HFS patients, and WM abnormalities was examined using spearman correlation analyses. RESULTS TBSS method showed structural alterations in the genu and body of corpus callosum; bilateral inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus (IFOF); left superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior, posterior, and superior portion of corona radiata; left posterior limb of the internal capsule; and left posterior thalamic radiation in HFS patients compared with healthy subjects. In addition, the overlapped region of decreased FA together with increased RD and MD was merely localized in the right ILF and IFOF in the HFS group, and abnormality of RD value in this region was positively correlated with the patients' spasm score. CONCLUSIONS The present study indicate extensive disruptions of WM integrity, especially the RD changes in right ILF and IFOF, which may provide alternative imaging clues for evaluating the characteristics of HFS.

中文翻译：

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面肌痉挛患者脑白质异常：扩散张量成像研究。

目的难治性半面部收缩和合并情绪障碍是半面部痉挛（HFS）患者的主要烦恼。目前尚不清楚大脑中的白质（WM）异常如何导致HFS。方法为了调查HFS中WM的变化，最终招募了26名患者和29名匹配的健康对照。在3.0 Tesla扫描仪上采集了全脑扩散张量成像（DTI）。基于行径的空间统计（TBSS）分析用于研究HFS患者和整个脑WM对照之间DTI指标的差异（分数各向异性（FA），平均扩散率（MD），径向扩散率（RD）轴向扩散率（AD）） 。HFS患者面部痉挛的严重程度与情感障碍之间的关系，使用Spearman相关分析检查WM异常。结果TBSS法显示call体的属和体结构发生改变。双边下纵筋膜（ILF）和下额枕筋膜（IFOF）; 左上纵筋膜，电晕放射线的前，后和上部分；内囊的左后肢；与健康受试者相比，HFS患者的左后丘脑放射。此外，HFS组中FA降低的重叠区域与RD和MD升高仅位于右侧的ILF和IFOF中，该区域的RD值异常与患者的痉挛评分呈正相关。结论本研究表明WM完整性受到广泛破坏，