title: Attenuation of brain grey matter volume in brachial plexus injury patients.
abstract: Brachial plexus injury (BPI) causes functional changes in the brain, but the structural changes resulting from BPI remain unknown. In this study, we compared grey matter volume between nine BPI patients and ten healthy controls by means of voxel-based morphometry. This was the first study of cortical morphology in BPI. We found that brain regions including the cerebellum, anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral inferior, medial, superior frontal lobe, and bilateral insula had less grey matter in BPI patients. Most of the affected brain regions of BPI patients are closely related to motor function. We speculate that the loss of grey matter in multiple regions might be the neural basis of the difficulties in the motor rehabilitation of BPI patients. The mapping result might provide new target regions for interventions of motor rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Wulumuqi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, China.
authors.forename: Yechen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Wulumuqi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, China.
authors.forename: Hanqiu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Wulumuqi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, China.
authors.forename: Xuyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Wulumuqi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Guang
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Wulumuqi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Dong
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, 12 Wulumuqi Middle Road, Shanghai, 200040, China. yundongshen@163.com.
authors.forename: Yundong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001917:Brachial Plexus / Q000293:injuries*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brachial plexus injury; Cortical plasticity; Grey matter volume; Structural changes; Voxel-based morphometry