title: A resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging study of patients with benign essential blepharospasm.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) is a neurologic disorder characterized by an adult-onset focal dystonia that causes involuntary blinking and eyelid spasms. The pathophysiology of BEB patients remains unclear. This study investigated intrinsic low-frequency fluctuation in BEB patients during resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 9 patients with BEB (mean age, 61.7 years; range, 52-66 years), in whom the average duration of symptoms was 2.7 ± 1.8 years, and another 9 subjects from an age- and sex-matched control group. Resting state fMRI was performed in both the patients with BEB and the normal controls. Voxel-based analysis was used to characterize the alteration of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in both patients with BEB and the normal controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The whole brain analysis indicated that in comparison with the normal control group, there was a significantly increased ALFF in the left putamen, pallidum, insular lobe, and medial prefrontal cortex and a significantly decreased ALFF in the bilateral somatosensory regions, thalami, cerebellum, and medial and posterior cingulate cortex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study suggests that both an abnormal default mode network and corticostriatopallidothalamic loop may play a role in the pathophysiology of BEB.
authors: Department of Neurology, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China.
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Zhou
authors: Jinyu
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Yulan
authors: Y
authors: Huang
authors: Yousong
authors: Y
authors: Yang
authors: Qiyong
authors: Q
authors: Gong
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001764:Blepharospasm / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged