Subjects

Sixty-four patients with MMD (27 men and 37 women) were recruited from July 2015 to April 2016. The patients had a median age of 35 years (range, 16–45 years). Thirty-three patients presented with unilateral paroxysmal numbness or hypoesthesia, 15 of whom underwent encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis (EDAS). Acroparesthesia was absent in the remaining 31 patients, 14 of whom underwent EDAS.

The inclusion criteria were as follows: 1) The patient was diagnosed and staged by digital subtraction angiography; 2) the patient remained in a stable condition, had no cerebral hemorrhage before scanning, presented with no cerebral infarction in the bilateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI) by conventional MR imaging, and cooperated with the examination; 3) the patient reported no other neurologic or psychiatric diseases; and 4) the patient was right-handed.

In addition, 15 healthy age- and sex-matched volunteers were selected. All subjects were provided with details of the examination and the necessary precautions. Signed informed consent was obtained from each subject before the examination. The ethics committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences approved the study.