Structural Brain Neuroimaging in Primary Insomnia

Abstract

Primary insomnia is a chronic disorder and characterized by inadequate sleep or poor sleep quality. The prevalence of insomnia is relatively high and daytime fatigue, mood disruption and cognitive impairments associated with insomnia negatively affect productivity and quality of life of patients. However, the neurobiological understanding of primary insomnia is still insufficient. Meanwhile, many neuroimaging studies have performed to investigate the structural or functional derangement in brains of patients with primary insomnia. There is no doubt that neuroimaging techniques can be useful in identifying the cerebral mechanisms of insomnia pathogenesis, and the neural correlates of insomnia symptoms. The current review focuses on structural neuroimaging findings in patients with primary insomnia.

Keywords

• Primary insomnia
• MRI
• Hippocampus
• Volumetry
• Voxel-based morphometry