Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Mar 10:6:1523845.
doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1523845. eCollection 2025.

Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in classical trigeminal neuralgia patients with purely paroxysmal and concomitant continuous pain

He Zhao #  1 , Shenghui Xie #  1 , Xueying Ma  1 , Xue Bai  2 , Yuanjun Song  2 , Qiong Wu  1 , Yang Gao  1
Affiliations

Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in classical trigeminal neuralgia patients with purely paroxysmal and concomitant continuous pain

He Zhao et al. Front Pain Res (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Background: Purely paroxysmal neuralgia (PP-CTN) and concomitant continuous pain (CCP-CTN) are different subtypes of classical trigeminal neuralgia (CTN). Our aim was to explore the common and unique spontaneous brain activity abnormalities between subtypes.

Methods: A total of 101 PP-CTN patients, 52 CCP-CTN patients, and 122 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. All the subjects underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, and changes in spontaneous brain activity were observed via whole-brain static amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (sALFF) and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF).

Results: Compared with HCs, PP-CTN patients presented significantly lower sALFF values in the left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex (CAL), left putamen, and left Rolandic operculum (ROL). Compared with HCs, CCP-CTN patients presented significantly increased sALFF values in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right medial superior frontal gyrus (MSFG), left putamen, right insula, and brainstem. Compared with the PP-CTN group, the CCP-CTN group presented significantly greater sALFF values in the left CAL, left SFG, right MSFG, left putamen, right insula, left ROL and brainstem. The results of the dALFF analysis revealed that, compared with HCs, PP-CTN patients presented increased dALFF values in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) and decreased dALFF values in the right cuneus. Compared with HCs, CCP-CTN patients presented increased dALFF values in the ACG, right insula, and brainstem and decreased dALFF values in the right cuneus. Compared with the PP-CTN group, the CCP-CTN group presented increased dALFF values in the right insula and brainstem.

Conclusions: Our findings reveal different neural mechanisms between PP-CTN and CCP-CTN patients, providing important neuroimaging evidence to better understand the pathophysiology of different subtypes of CTN.

Keywords: chronic pain; classical trigeminal neuralgia; dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation; magnetic resonance imaging; static amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Significant differences of sALFF values among PP-CTN, CCP-CTN and HC (FWE correction). SFG, superior frontal gyrus; MSFG, medial superior frontal gyrus; ROL, rolandic operculum; CAL, calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Post hoc comparisons of analysis of variance. The connection between two bars represents significant between-group differences (*represents significant level p < 0.05, **denotes significant level p < 0.01, and *** indicates significant level p < 0.001, Bonferroni correction). CAL, calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex; SFG, superior frontal gyrus; MSFG, medial superior frontal gyrus; ROL, rolandic operculum.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Significant differences of dALFF values among PP-CTN, CCP-CTN and HC. The results were obtained by ANCOVA analysis adjusted with age, sex, education, total intracranial volume and mean framewise displacement (P < 0.001, uncorrected). ACG, anterior cingulate gyrus.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Post hoc comparisons of analysis of variance. The connection between two bars represents significant between-group differences (*represents significant level p < 0.05, **denotes significant level p < 0.01, and *** indicates significant level p < 0.001, Bonferroni correction). Abbreviations: ACG, anterior cingulate gyrus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Jones MR, Urits I, Ehrhardt KP, Cefalu JN, Kendrick JB, Park DJ, et al. A comprehensive review of trigeminal neuralgia. Curr Pain Headache Rep. (2019) 23(10):74. 10.1007/s11916-019-0810-0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Maarbjerg S, Wolfram F, Gozalov A, Olesen J, Bendtsen L. Significance of neurovascular contact in classical trigeminal neuralgia. Brain. (2015) 138(Pt 2):311–9. 10.1093/brain/awu349 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Zhang Y, Zhang J, Wang J, Xu J, Li J, et al. Structural and functional abnormalities of the insular cortex in trigeminal neuralgia: a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging analysis. Pain. (2017b) 159(3):507–14. 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001120 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bendtsen L, Zakrzewska JM, Heinskou TB, Hodaie M, Leal PRL, Nurmikko T, et al. Advances in diagnosis, classification, pathophysiology, and management of trigeminal neuralgia. Lancet Neurol. (2020) 19(9):784–96. 10.1016/s1474-4422(20)30233-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Di Stefano G, Truini A, Cruccu G. Current and innovative pharmacological options to treat typical and atypical trigeminal neuralgia. Drugs. (2018) 78(14):1433–42. 10.1007/s40265-018-0964-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources