基于体素的形态测量学方法对慢性类风湿关节炎患者脑灰质的MR研究

目的 应用基于体素的形态测量学(VBM)方法分析慢性类风湿关节炎(RA)患者相对于健康志愿者脑灰质改变的特点及规律.方法 收集35例慢性RA患者和30例年龄、性别、受教育程度相匹配的健康对照者,使用GE Signa HDxt 1.5T超导MR扫描仪对所有受试者行高分辨率3D-T1全脑结构扫描,利用SPM 12软件的VBM 12方法对扫描图像进行预处理,对慢性RA患者和正常志愿者脑灰质体积采用双样本t检验,探讨慢性RA患者脑灰质改变的特点及其与临床指标的相关性.结果 与对照组相比,VBM结果显示慢性RA患者右侧豆状核,左侧额叶及左侧小脑后叶脑灰质减少,差异脑区脑灰质与临床指标之间无线性相关性.本研究未发现慢性RA组脑灰质比正常对照组增大的区域.结论 慢性RA患者脑灰质减小,提示RA可导致脑结构异常,VBM为评价RA脑形态学异常提供了客观的影像学依据.

Gray matter changes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis:a voxel-based morphometric study

Objective To investigate the changes of the gray matter in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on the voxel based morphometry (VBM).Methods 35 patients with RA and 30 healthy volunteers with age,sex and education level matched performed a high-resolution 3D-T1-weighted whole brain structural scan by GE Signa HDxt 1.5T MRI scanner.The high resolution T1WI images were preprocessed by the VBM 12 implemented in the SPM 12 software to display the gray matter structures of the RA patients and the healthy volunteers.T test was used to compare the morphological changes of gray matter between the RA patients and the volunteers.Results The gray matter volume gray matter volume in the right lentiform nucleus,left frontal lobe and left cerebellum posterior lobe significantly decreased in RA patients,and their gray matter volume had no correlation with the clinical indications.The increase of gray matter volume was not found in the RA patients.Conclusion RA patients show decreased gray matter volume in several cerebral regions,which suggests that RA can lead to the brain structural abnormalities.VBM can provide an objective imaging evidence to evaluate the cerebral morphological abnormalities of RA.