Altered Cortical-Striatal Network in Patients With Hemifacial Spasm

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is a motor disorder impacting daily function.
• The striatum is crucial for motor control, suggesting its involvement in HFS.
• Understanding the cortical-striatal network's role in HFS is essential for elucidating its pathophysiology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate alterations in the cortical-striatal network in patients with primary unilateral HFS.
• To utilize resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess functional connectivity (FC).

Main Methods:

• Acquired resting-state fMRI data from 30 adult HFS patients and 30 healthy controls.
• Analyzed FC within six striatal subregions per hemisphere.
• Employed one-sample and two-sample t-tests for intragroup and intergroup comparisons, respectively; Spearman correlation assessed FC-severity relationships.

Main Results:

• Patients with HFS exhibited altered FC between striatal subregions and the motor and orbitofrontal cortex compared to controls.
• The degree of altered FC between striatal subregions and the motor cortex was significantly correlated with HFS severity.

Conclusions:

• Functional connectivity within the cortical-striatal network is disrupted in primary HFS.
• These network alterations are linked to the clinical severity of hemifacial spasm.
• The findings suggest the cortical-striatal network plays a significant role in the pathological mechanisms underlying HFS.