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The effects of masking therapy in tinnitus patients are characterized by longitudinally altered local activity and functional connectivity1Radiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Synopsis
This study is the first to investigate the neural modulation mechanism of long term masking therapy in tinnitus patients by combined employing two analytic methods.
Introduction
Masking therapy serves as an effective way to induce relief of adverse tinnitus sensations. However, the neural mechanism of effective masking therapy in tinnitus remains incompletely understood.Methods
In this study, 30 tinnitus patients completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline and after 12 weeks of masking therapy intervention. Thirty age- and gender-matched healthy controls were also longitudinally scanned twice over a 12-week interval. Data were analyzed by ALFF (amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation) and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) to measure significantly altered local brain spontaneous activity and its connections.Results
Interaction effect between the two groups and two scans in local neural activity assessed by ALFF values were observed in the left parahippocampal gyrus and right superior temporal gyrus (STG), the key region of the primary auditory cortex). Importantly, local functional activity in the left parahippocampal gyrus were higher than normal controls at baseline, but significantly reduced and approached normal levels after treatment. Conversely, activity in the right STG significantly increased and extended beyond a relatively normal range after masking intervention. These changes were found to be positively correlated with tinnitus relief. FC between the left parahippocampal gyrus (seed) and the left right anterior cingulate cortex and left middle cingulate cortex were observed higher in tinnitus patients after treatment.Conclusion
We prove our hypothesis that masking therapy can selectively modulate neural activity associated with the limbic system and auditory cortex. Such an understanding would be crucial to identifying biomarkers for monitoring the treatment efficacy of tinnitus masking therapy.Acknowledgements
No acknowledgement found.References
1. Bauer, C.A., Tinnitus. New England Journal of Medicine, 2018. 378(13): p. 1224-1231.
2. Husain, F.T. and S.A. Schmidt, Using resting state functional connectivity to unravel networks of tinnitus. Hear Res, 2014. 307: p. 153-62.
3. Lv, H., et al., Resting-State Functional MRI: Everything That Nonexperts Have Always Wanted to Know. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol, 2018. 39(8): p. 1390-1399.
4. Ueyama, T., et al., Alterations of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Tinnitus Patients as Assessed Using Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography. Plos One, 2015. 10(9): p. e0137291.
5. Maudoux, A., et al., Auditory resting-state network connectivity in tinnitus: a functional MRI study. PLoS One, 2012. 7(5): p. e36222.
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