Altered Functional Connectivity of the Thalamus and Salience Network in Patients with Cluster Headache: a Pilot Study

Overview

Journal Neurol Sci

Specialty Neurology

Date 2023 Aug 14

PMID 37578630

Authors

Enchao Qiu

Xinbo Xing

Yan Wang

Lixia Tian

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background And Objective: Previous studies have shown that the salience network (SN) and the thalamus are involved in cluster headache (CH) attacks. However, very little is known regarding the altered thalamus-SN functional connectivity in CH. The aim of this study was to explore alterations of functional connectivity between the thalamus and the SN in patients with CH to further gain insight into the pathophysiology of CH.

Materials And Methods: The resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data of 21 patients with CH in the headache attack remission state during in-bout periods and 21 age- and sex-matched normal controls were obtained. The rs-fMRI data were analyzed by the independent component analysis (ICA) method, and the thalamus-SN functional connectivity in patients with right-sided and left-sided CH was compared with that in normal controls.

Results: Decreased functional connectivity was found between the thalamus, both ipsilateral and contralateral to the headache side, and the SN during headache remission state in both right-sided CH patients and left-sided CH patients.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the decreased functional connectivity between the thalamus and SN might be one of the pathologies underpinning the CH. This helps us to understand better the nature of the brain dysfunction in CH and the basic pathologies of CH, which implies that this deserves further investigation.

Citing Articles

MRI-based analysis of the microstructure of the thalamus and hypothalamus and functional connectivity between cortical networks in episodic cluster headache.

Abagnale C, Di Renzo A, Giuliani G, Sebastianelli G, Casillo F, Ziccardi L J Headache Pain. 2025; 26(1):12.

PMID: 39815195 PMC: 11734418. DOI: 10.1186/s10194-024-01920-1.

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