TITLE:
Quantified Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in the Diagnosis of Burning Mouth Syndrome
AUTHORS:
Duzgun Yildirim, Deniz Alis, Ceren Alis, Filiz Namdar Pekiner, Alev Bakir, Suha Turkmen, Dastan Temirbekov
KEYWORDS:
Burning Mouth Syndrome, BMS, GABA, MRI, Spectroscopy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Imaging,
Vol.9 No.3,
September
17,
2019
ABSTRACT:
Purpose: To investigate potential pathological differences in major brain
metabolites in burning mouth syndrome (BMS). Materials and Methods:
We prospectively evaluated eight patients and six healthy controls with single
voxel magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy throughout 2017 using
3-Tesla MR unit. Metabolite levels measured from the left posterior paracingulate
white matter. Raw images were processed with Tarquin version
4.3.10 and area under curve values were automatically calculated for GABA
(γ-Aminobutyric acid), Ins (myo-inositole), tNAA (N-Acetylaspartate), tCho
(total choline), tCr (total creatine) and GLx (glutamine + Glutamat). Major
metabolite levels and all metabolites ratio to tCr calculated and compared
between two groups using Mann-Whitney U test. Results: GABA/tCR value
of the patients (0.589 ± 0.194, median = 0.515) was significantly higher than
control group (0.230 ± 0.067, median = 0.220) (P = 0.002). tNAA/tCR value
of the patients (1.106 ± 0.218, median: 1.205), was significantly lower than the
control group (1.538 ± 0.401, median: 1.705) (P = 0.028). No significant difference
was observed between two groups in terms of all other metabolites
(P > 0.05). Conclusion: We demonstrated increased GABA and decreased
NAA in the left posterior paracingulate region in BMS patients. We suggest
that these metabolite alterations in central nervous system might play a key
role in the etiology of the disease by inhibiting the suppression of burning
sensation.