The Alterations in the Brain Corresponding to Low Back Pain: Recent Insights and Advances

Table 4

Connectivity alterations of grey matters in back pain patients.

Subjects	Assessed indices	Main findings	Reference
35 CLP patients	FC	A significant resting-state functional connectivity to the posterior cingulate cortex and the right anterior INS in salience network	[55]
124 chronic LBP patients	FC	Multisensory association in two regions in the left PCC↑, two regions in the V1 cortex↓	[21]
14 chronic LBP patients	FC	SLN connectivity to the thalamus and the primary motor cortex ↑ SLN connectivity to the lateral prefrontal cortex ↑.	[61]
40 subacute pian patients, 28 chronic LBP patients	Corticostriatal FC	Functional connectivity of putative LNAc shell to left thalamus ↓, the right and the left NAc ↓, the right caudate and the rACC ↓	[24]
26 LBLP patients	FC	Static functional connectivity between the left S1 back and right superior and middle frontal gyrus (SFG/MFG)↑↑, the left S1chest and the right SFG/MFG↑, the right S1chest and the right SFG/MFG↑, the left S1face and the right MFG↑, the right S1 face and the right inferior parietal lobule ↑	[65]
49 SBP patients	FC in the whole brain	The lateral prefrontal and the parietal cortices ↑, the anterior INS, sensorimotor, and default mode areas↓	[43]
217 LBP patients	FC in the whole brain	DMN FC of the right IPL↓, MD of the thalamus, precuneus and left vPCC↓	[46]
90 CLBP patients	FC in the whole brain	Intrinsic FC between the VTA and its cortical and limbic targets↓, including the bilateral mPFC, rACC, and medial temporal lobe (HIP/PHG) ↓	[41]
14 FBSS patients (persistent back pain)	FC in the salience network, CEN, SeN	FC in the anterior cingulate cortex within the SN↑, medial frontal gyrus in the CEN↑, precentral gyrus within the SeN↑, the medial frontal gyrus in the SeN↓	[50]
Seventeen sex- and age-matched CBP patients, and 32 SBP patients	FC	Extrinsic left hippocampal connectivity ↑, intrinsic bilateral hippocampal connectivity↑	[56]
18 CBP, 19 CRPS, and 14 knee OA patients	FC in the whole brain	The mPFC to the posterior constituents of the DMN↓, to the INS in proportion to the intensity of pain↑	[57]
14 CLBP patients	FC	Connectivity from the INS to widespread TPN and TNN areas↓, the left DLPFC connectivity post-treatment versus pretreatment to connectivity pMCC↑, connectivity to bilateral S1/M1 ↑, connectivity to the right PMC↑, connectivity to the right PPC↑, connectivity to the left temporal↑, connectivity to bilateral fusiform↑, connectivity to bilateral visual ↑	[69]
18 CLBP patients	FC	The PAG and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)/the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) ↑	[58]
120 SBP patients	FC in the whole brain	The nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex ↑	[59]
50 CLBP patients	FC in the whole brain	FC between the mPFC/rACC and posterior DMN regions↓ mPFC/rACC FCs↑ the SMN FC between the mPFC/rACC and the precentral (PreCG) and the medial frontal gyri (MFG) ↓ the mPFC/rACC and middle frontal gyrus (MiFG) ↑	[60]

CEN, central executive network; DLPFC, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; DMN, default mode network; FBSS, failed back surgery syndrome; FC, functional connectivity; INS, insula; IPL, inferior parietal lobe; LBLP, low-back-related leg pain; LNAc, left nucleus accumbens; MD, medial dorsal nucleus; mPFC, medial prefrontal cortex; NAc, nucleus accumbens; pMCC, prefrontal medial cingulate cortex; PCC, posterior cingulate cortex; PPC, posterior parietal cortex; PAG, periaqueductal grey; rACC, rostral anterior cingulate cortex; ROI, regions of interest; SBPp, subacute back pain persist in having pain; S1 cortex, primary somatosensory cortex; S1 back, the representation of the back in the S1; SeN, sensorimotor network; SLN, silence network; TNN, task-negative network; TPN, task-positive network; V1, primary visual cortex.