Magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of functional changes of the brain in menstrual disorders: a review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Currently, the most common variant of the reproductive system disorders, in particular menstrual cycle disorders, in adolescent girls is oligomenorrhea. In situations after a complete diagnostic screening no organic and endocrine pathology of the reproductive system is detected in this group of patients, it is possible to conduct functional MRI as a method of identifying cause-and-effect relationships and clarifying the pathogenesis of menstrual disorders.OBJECTIVE: To analyze the available foreign and domestic literature to determine the role of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of functional brain changes in menstrual disorders in adolescent girls.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A search was conducted for scientific publications in the information and analytical systems PubMed and Google Scholar for 2013–2023 by keywords: «resting-state functional MRI» («functional resting MRI»), «oligomenorrhhea» («oligomenorrhea»), «adolescent girls» («teenage girls»), «reproductive system functional disorders» («functional disorders of the reproductive system»), «magnetic resonance imaging» («magnetic resonance imaging»), «diagnostic radiology» («radiation diagnostics»). 46 publications related to the diagnosis of functional brain changes in menstrual disorders in the form of resting state fMRI were analyzed.RESULTS: Resting state fMRI allows us to assess the basic brain activity in the absence of certain sensory or cognitive stimuli and visualize working networks that include various parts of the brain demonstrating synchronous changes in the BOLD-signal at rest. There are a number of patterns of changes in the BOLD-signal that can be observed in various phases of the menstrual cycle, as well as under the influence of stress factors, which makes it possible to visualize the morphological substrate of oligomenorrhea that occurs against the background of the absence of organic and endocrine pathology of the reproductive system in adolescent girls. Currently, there is little data in the scientific literature on the use of functional resting MRI in this cohort of patients, however, this method can have a significant impact on the formation of an individual plan for the correction of reproductive disorders in adolescence, and therefore requires further study.CONCLUSION: The use of fMRI can open up new possibilities in the diagnosis of functional brain disorders in girls with «unexplained» oligomenorrhea.