Structural and Functional Brain Changes After Glucocorticoid Therapy in Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy
Authors' conclusion
Our results indicated that TAO might cause functional and structural deficits in the visual and emotional regions of the brain, with recovery in the former and partial restoration in the latter after effective glucocorticoid therapy. These findings may lead to deeper understanding of the pathophysiological mechanism behind TAO.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) and healthy controls, Nanjing, China, 2019–202226 patients rescanned
- Participants
- 32 vs 23
- Comparison
- TAO patients before vs after IV glucocorticoid therapy, and vs healthy controls
- TAOn = 32
- Healthy controlsn = 23reference
- Outcome
- Brain structural and functional alterations (voxel-based morphometry (VBM), resting-state MRI ALFF and ReHo)
- Follow-up
- Before therapy and 3 months after end of therapy
Methodological detailssingle-centre, before-and-after glucocorticoid therapy
- Single-centre
- Before-and-after glucocorticoid therapy
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Brain MRI changes
- Before therapy, TAO: decreased gray matter volume (GMV) in left orbital part of superior frontal gyrus (ORBsup) and medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed) vs healthy controls
- Before therapy, TAO: higher amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in bilateral gyrus rectus and olfactory cortex, lower in bilateral cuneus
- Before therapy, TAO: decreased regional homogeneity (ReHo) in bilateral lingual gyrus
- After therapy vs pre-therapy: increased GMV in left anterior cingulate gyrus and SFGmed, increased ALFF in bilateral cuneus and superior occipital gyrus, increased ReHo in bilateral SFGmed
- After therapy vs controls: decreased GMV in left ORBsup
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Structural and Functional Brain Changes After Glucocorticoid Therapy in Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published 21 October 2023. doi:10.
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