Objective. In order to further study the changes of cerebral functional connectivity in patients with toothache (TA), this study used the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) technique and degree centrality (DC) analysis method. Methods. Eighteen TA patients (8 males, 10 females) and 18 healthy individuals of similar age, sex, and educational levels were recruited as healthy controls (HCs) to take part in the study, and all underwent rs-fMRI examination. And DC technology was used to compare the state of their cerebral spontaneous functional activity. In order to compare the average DC values of the TA group and HC group, we used independent two-sample -test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to compare the difference of DC values between the two groups, so as to distinguish the accuracy of TA diagnosis. Finally, we also carry out Pearson’s linear regression analysis. Results. The TA group showed higher DC values in the right lingual gyrus (RLG), right precentral gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) than HCs. Moreover, ROC curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) of each cerebral region studied had high accuracy. In addition, linear analysis indicated that the DC values of the RLG were positively correlated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (, ), and the DC values of the LMTG were positively correlated with the visual analogue scale (VAS) (, ). Conclusion. TA generates abnormal changes in the intrinsic activity patterns of pain-related and vision-related areas of the cerebral cortex, which will be beneficial to reveal the underlying neuropathic mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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牙痛患者特定大脑区域功能连接的变化：静息状态功能磁共振成像研究

客观。为进一步研究牙痛（TA）患者脑功能连接的变化，本研究采用静息态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）技术和度中心性（DC）分析方法。方法。招募 18 名 TA 患者（8 名男性，10 名女性）和 18 名年龄、性别和教育水平相近的健康人作为健康对照（HCs）参加研究，并全部接受 rs-fMRI 检查。并采用DC技术比较其脑自发功能活动状态。为了比较 TA 组和 HC 组的平均 DC 值，我们使用独立的两个样本-试验和受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线比较两组间DC值的差异，以区分TA诊断的准确性。最后，我们还进行了皮尔逊线性回归分析。结果。TA 组的右舌回 (RLG)、右中央前回和左颞中回 (LMTG) 的 DC 值高于 HC。此外，ROC曲线分析表明，研究的每个大脑区域的曲线下面积（AUC）具有较高的准确性。此外，线性分析表明，RLG的DC值与医院焦虑抑郁量表（HADS）呈正相关（, ）， LMTG的DC值与视觉模拟量表（VAS）呈正相关（, ）。 结论。TA 在大脑皮层的疼痛相关和视觉相关区域的内在活动模式中产生异常变化，这将有利于揭示潜在的神经病理机制。