Brain Structural and Functional Connectivity Changes in the Period of Dysmenorrhea: a Prospective fMRI Study

Women's Hospital School Of Medicine Zhejiang University

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Dysmenorrhea

Treatments: Behavioral: dysmenorrhea

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06178406

IRB-20230284-R

Details and patient eligibility

About

Observational prospective study with an analysis of the changes in brain structure and related functional connectivity in women with dysmenorrhea.

Full description

Dysmenorrhea is a common gynecological disease and chronic pain disorder.Understanding the neural mechanisms of dysmenorrhea and the brain changes affecting pain factors is important for finding dysmenorrhea treatment methods. The emergence and progress of non-invasive neuroimaging technology can help us better understand pain at the neural level. Recent developments in identifying brain-based biomarkers of pain through advances in advanced imaging can provide some foundations for predicting and detecting pain. Twenty patients with dysmenorrhea and twenty matched female healthy controls were recruited from our hospital. All participants underwent the head magnetic resonance imaging scans to calculate grey matter volume and Diffusion Tensor Imaging parameters. Questionnaire assessment was also conducted.

Enrollment: 20 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Right-handedness, as confirmed by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory
• A regular menstrual cycle of approximately 21 to 35 days
• A history of menstrual pain longer than 6 months
• Not taking any medication or using other methods to treat dysmenorrhea in the past month
• Score of >= 40mm on the VAS (visual analogue scale) in recent three menstrual cycles

Exclusion criteria

• Any psychiatric or neurological disorders, particularly premenstrual dysphoric disorder
• Using oral contraceptives, hormonal supplements, or any central-acting medication (eg, opioid, antiepileptics) within 6 months before the study
• Having a metal or pacemaker implant, claustrophobia, or any contraindications to MR
• Head injury with loss of consciousness

Trial design

20 participants in 2 patient groups

dysmenorrhea

Treatment:

Behavioral: dysmenorrhea

female healthy controls