• David Q Chen, Danielle D DeSouza, David J Hayes, Karen D Davis, Paul O'Connor, and Mojgan Hodaie.
• Institute of Medical Science and Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada/Division of Brain, Imaging and Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
• Mult. Scler. 2016 Jan 1; 22 (1): 51-63.

BackgroundTrigeminal neuralgia secondary to multiple sclerosis (MS-TN) is a facial neuropathic pain syndrome similar to classic trigeminal neuralgia (TN). While TN is caused by neurovascular compression of the fifth cranial nerve (CN V), how MS-related demyelination correlates with pain in MS-TN is not understood.ObjectivesWe aim to examine diffusivities along CN V in MS-TN, TN, and controls in order to reveal differential neuroimaging correlates across groups.Methods3T MR diffusion weighted, T1, T2 and FLAIR sequences were acquired for MS-TN, TN, and controls. Multi-tensor tractography was used to delineate CN V across cisternal, root entry zone (REZ), pontine and peri-lesional segments. Diffusion metrics including fractional anisotropy (FA), and radial (RD), axial (AD), and mean diffusivities (MD) were measured from each segment.ResultsCN V segments showed distinctive diffusivity patterns. The TN group showed higher FA in the cisternal segment ipsilateral to the side of pain, and lower FA in the ipsilateral REZ segment. The MS-TN group showed lower FA in the ipsilateral peri-lesional segments, suggesting differential microstructural changes along CN V in these conditions.ConclusionsThe study demonstrates objective differences in CN V microstrucuture in TN and MS-TN using non-invasive neuroimaging. This represents a significant improvement in the methods currently available to study pain in MS.© The Author(s), 2015.

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