title: Metabolite concentration ratios in thalami of patients with migraine and trigeminal neuralgia measured with 1H-MRS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the metabolite concentration ratios including N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds (Cho) and creatine plus phosphocreatine (Cr) in thalami of patients with migraine without aura, patients with trigeminal neuralgia and healthy comparison subjects using multi-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS).
  
  
  METHODS
  1H-MRS was performed with a 3.0 T MR system on the thalamus bilaterally in 20 patients with migraine without aura, 16 patients with trigeminal neuralgia and 14 healthy control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the patients with trigeminal neuralgia, metabolite concentration ratios except for Cho/Cr in thalami were different from those of healthy subjects (p>0.05). In migraine group, only NAA/Cho is low in the left thalamus (p>0.05). Comparing the metabolite concentration ratios of affected and contralateral sides in migraine and trigeminal neuralgia groups, only NAA/Cr showed a significant difference (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was proved that migraine and trigeminal neuralgia seemed to be associated with an abnormal balance of the neural activity in the thalamus using 1H-MRS. There was some significant difference between metabolite concentration ratios in two diseases. 1H-MRS may serve as a useful non-invasive tool for evaluating thalamic neural activity and therapy effect in clinical performance of patients with migraine without aura.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China. gutao001@sina.com
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Xiang-Xing
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yan-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Xiu
authors.forename: Chuan-Fu
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D011522:Protons; D013788:Thalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline