弱视儿童和正常儿童的灰质VBM比较研究

目的利用基于体素的形态学(voxel-basedmorphometry,VBM)比较,探讨弱视儿童中灰质发育的异常。方法13例弱视儿童和14例视力正常儿童进行了3DT1WI扫描,数据在SPM2下进行头颅标准化、分割、平滑的后处理后,对病例组和对照组的数据进行归一化处理,将体素内的信号转换为灰质密度的差别,以双样本独立t检验进行病例组和对照组的基于体素的灰质密度比较,分析弱视患者灰质病变的区域。结果弱视组和对照组的左侧额中回,海马旁回和梭状回,颞下回和双侧距状回的灰质密度差异具有统计学意义,P<0.001。这些区域的体素数目从12个至36个不等。结论基于体素的形态学研究能够发现弱视儿童中与视觉相关的大脑区域的灰质发育异常,从而为探讨引起弱视的神经结构发育异常提供了有用的信息。

Comparison of the gray matter in children with amblyopia by VBM study

Objective To investigate the change of development of gray matter in children with amblyopia by using voxel-based morphometry. Methods Thirteen children with amblyopia and fourteen normally-sighted children underwent 3D T1 scanning. We analyzed the original 3D T1 brain images using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) module within the widely used analysis software package SPM2. After normalization, segmentation, smoothing of the images, comparison between amblyopic and control groups was derived for the gray matter of the entire brain using parametric statistics. The abnormal regions of the gray matter in patients with amblyopia were revealed. Results The results of VBM analysis indicated that amblyopic group has decreased gray matter density in middle frontal gyrus, parahippocampal gyru, fusiform gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus of the left hemisphere and bilateral calcarine cortice. The radii of these regions range from 12 to 36 voxels. Conclusion Using MR and VBM analysis, we detected developmental changes in the cortices related to visual function in children with amblyopia. The findings may provide supplemental information to help investigation of the development of the brain with amblyopia.