Purpose

To explore the morphological and microstructural changes of grey and white matter in the patients of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO).

Methods

Twenty-five TAO patients and 25 well-matched healthy controls were recruited. Structural T1- and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry and voxel-based analysis of diffusion tensor imaging.

Results

Compared with healthy controls, TAO group showed significantly decreased grey matter volume in the brain region of the right middle frontal gyrus. Meanwhile, TAO group showed significantly decreased fractional anisotropy (FA), but increased mean, axial and radial diffusivities in the brain regions of the right superior occipital gyrus, middle occipital gyrus and cuneus in TAO group. In addition, the FA value in significant brain regions showed a positive correlation with visual acuity (r = 0.456, P = 0.025) and a negative correlation with disease duration (r = − 0.609, P = 0.003).

Conclusion

Significant morphological and microstructural abnormalities in areas corresponding to known functional deficits of vision and cognition could be found in TAO patients. These results extended our understanding of neural relationships with TAO.

中文翻译：

---

甲状腺相关性眼病的形态学和微结构脑变化：基于体素的形态计量学和弥散张量成像研究

目的

目的探讨甲状腺相关性眼病（TAO）患者灰质和白质的形态和微观结构变化。

方法

招募了25名TAO患者和25个匹配良好的健康对照。使用基于体素的形态计量学和基于体素的扩散张量成像分析来分析结构T1和扩散加权磁共振成像数据。

结果

与健康对照组相比，TAO组显示右中额回的大脑区域灰质体积明显减少。同时，TAO组在右上枕叶，中枕叶和楔骨的大脑区域的分数各向异性（FA）显着降低，但平均，轴向和径向扩散性增加。此外，大脑重要区域的FA值与视敏度呈正相关（r  = 0.456，P  = 0.025），与疾病持续时间呈负相关（r  = − 0.609，P  = 0.003）。

结论

在TAO患者中，可以发现与已知的视力和认知功能障碍相对应的区域的明显形态和微结构异常。这些结果扩展了我们对与TAO的神经关系的理解。