title: [Brain gray matter abnormalities revealed by voxel-based morphometry in patients with chronic low back pain].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the morphometric abnormalities of brain gray matter (GM) in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with CLBP and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled and examined with a 3.0 T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner. High-resolution T1 structural MR data were acquired and data analysis was performed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in FMRIB Software Library. The morphological differences were compared between the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  s Compared with the healthy control subjects, patients with CLBP showed decreased GM volumes in several brain cortical areas including the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, right frontal pole, left insular cortex, left middle and left inferior temporal gyrus (P<0.05, after TFCE correction). Increased GM volumes were found in the patients in the subcortical structures including the left thalamus, bilateral putamen, bilateral nucleus accumben and right caudate nucleus (P<0.05, after TFCE correction).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with CLBP have different patterns of GM abnormalities in different brain regions, characterized by reduced GM volume in cerebral cortical regions and increased GM volume in the subcortical nuclei. Such changes might be associated with the maladaptation of the brain in chronic pain state.
authors: Department of Medical Imaging, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, China. E-mail: maocuiping@163.com.
authors: Cui-Ping
authors: CP
authors: Mao
authors: Quan-Xin
authors: QX
authors: Yang
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Tang
authors: Hua-Juan
authors: HJ
authors: Yang
authors: Zhi-Lan
authors: ZL
authors: Bai
authors: Qiu-Juan
authors: QJ
authors: Zhang
authors: Nadeem
authors: N
authors: Zahid
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex; D005625:Frontal Lobe; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D013702:Temporal Lobe; D013788:Thalamus