The following is a summary of “Regional structural abnormalities in thalamus in idiopathic cervical dystonia,” published in the May 2024 issue of Neurology by Luo et al.
While the thalamus is known to be crucial in idiopathic cervical dystonia (iCD), the specific changes happening within this brain region are not fully understood.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess thalamic subregional abnormalities in iCD using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
They gathered structural MRI data from 37 patients diagnosed with iCD and an equal number of HCs, then automatically employed the FreeSurfer program to parcellate 25 thalamic nuclei in each hemisphere. Analyses were conducted to discern differences in thalamic nuclei volumes between the two groups and to explore the associations with clinical data, specifically in patients with iCD.
The results showed that compared to HCs, patients with iCD exhibited a notable reduction in volume for several thalamic nuclei, primarily including central medial, centromedian, lateral geniculate, medial geniculate, medial ventral, paracentral, parafascicular, paratenial, and ventromedial nuclei (P<0.05, false discovery rate corrected). However, no statistically significant correlations between the altered volumes of thalamic nuclei and the clinical characteristics within the iCD group.
Investigators concluded structural abnormalities in specific thalamic subregions of patients with iCD, potentially contributing to a better understanding of the disease’s neurobiology.
Source: bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12883-024-03680-6
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