TY  - JOUR
A1  - Aster, Hans-Christoph
A1  - Evdokimov, Dimitar
A1  - Braun, Alexandra
A1  - Üçeyler, Nurcan
A1  - Kampf, Thomas
A1  - Pham, Mirko
A1  - Homola, György A.
A1  - Sommer, Claudia
T1  - CNS imaging characteristics in fibromyalgia patients with and without peripheral nerve involvement
T2  - Scientific Reports
N2  - We tested the hypothesis that reduced skin innervation in fibromyalgia syndrome is associated with specific CNS changes. This prospective case–control study included 43 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome and 40 healthy controls. We further compared the fibromyalgia subgroups with reduced (n = 21) and normal (n = 22) skin innervation. Brains were analysed for cortical volume, for white matter integrity, and for functional connectivity. Compared to controls, cortical thickness was decreased in regions of the frontal, temporal and parietal cortex in the fibromyalgia group as a whole, and decreased in the bilateral pericalcarine cortices in the fibromyalgia subgroup with reduced skin innervation. Diffusion tensor imaging revealed a significant increase in fractional anisotropy in the corona radiata, the corpus callosum, cingulum and fornix in patients with fibromyalgia compared to healthy controls and decreased FA in parts of the internal capsule and thalamic radiation in the subgroup with reduced skin innervation. Using resting-state fMRI, the fibromyalgia group as a whole showed functional hypoconnectivity between the right midfrontal gyrus and the posterior cerebellum and the right crus cerebellum, respectively. The subgroup with reduced skin innervation showed hyperconnectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus, the angular gyrus and the posterior parietal gyrus. Our results suggest that the subgroup of fibromyalgia patients with pronounced pathology in the peripheral nervous system shows alterations in morphology, structural and functional connectivity also at the level of the encephalon. We propose considering these subgroups when conducting clinical trials.
KW  - fibromyalgia syndrome
KW  - CNS imaging
KW  - peripheral nerve involvement
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/30056
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300562
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  -