[Evaluation of brain volume changes in patients with painful temporomandibular disorders using voxel-based...

Objective: To evaluate the altered brain volume of the patients with painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Methods: One hundred forty-six TMD patients ［age (36.8±15.8) years, male/female=44/102］ and 193 normal controls (NC) ［age (43.3±15.6) years, male/female = 92/101］ were performed with 3 dimensional brain structural images at 3.0 T MR scanner from November 2011 to December 2019 in Department of Radiology, Hainan Hospital and General Hospital of Chinese PLA. The brain structural images were segmented into gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid, and the gray matter images were performed with two-samples t-test with total intracranial volume, age and gender as covariates. Results: The gray matter volume (GMV) presented significantly higher in TMD group ［(632.4±65.4) ml］ than that in NC group ［(596.1±76.3) ml］ (t=4.70, P<0.05). The brain regions with increased GMV for TMD located in left inferior temporal gyrus, bilateral fusiform gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus and right lingual gyrus compared with NC. Conclusions: The temporal lobe was the targeting brain region for TMD patients with increased GMV, which should further be investigated to elucidate the neuromechanism.