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The Alterations of Brain Gray Matters in the Patients of Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome Evaluated by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Chuanyu Sun1*, Qingfeng Hu1, Guowei Xia1, Yifan Tan1, Shengyang Ge1, Yijun Guo2

Background: Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common disease in clinic of urology. Although the etiology of CP/CPPS is unclear, accumulating evidences reveals the central mechanisms like neuromodulation, neural plasticity and brain reorganization play a vital role in the pathophysiological mechanisms. As is acknowledged as a non-invasive and accurate instrument, resting-state Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been applied to investigate brain abnormalities of structure.

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the brain structural alterations in the patients of CP/CPPS evaluated by measuring the brain gray matters through MRI.

Materials and Methods: 50 patients of CP/CPPS and 50 matched healthy controls were recruited to scan T1- weighted MRI. Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) was applied to identify brain regions correlated with scores of clinical scales. Total Gray Matter Volume (GMV) and cortical thickness analysis were carried out.

Results: The positively altered regions of gray matter density were mainly concentrated in the cortical regions surrounding the basal ganglia and the lateral ventricles bilaterally while negative changes of gray matter density were mainly located in the gray matter areas of lateral cerebrum (P<0.05). The mean values of gray matter density in these abnormal regions correlated with the scores of clinical scales.

Conclusion: The patients of CP/CPPS had structural abnormalities in the pain modulation system. These alterations might trigger the pathogenesis and development of CP/CPPS.