Citation: Altered cortical processing of observed pain in fibromyalgia syndrome
patients.
J Pain. 2015 May 12;
Authors: Fallon N, Li X, Chiu Y, Nurmikko T, Stancak A
Abstract: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterised by widespread
chronic pain, fatigue, sleep disorders and cognitive-emotional disturbance. FMS
patients exhibit increased sensitivity to experimental pain and pain-related
cues, as well as deficits in emotional regulation. The present study
investigated the spatio-temporal patterns of brain activations for observed pain
in 19 FMS patients and 18 age-matched, healthy control subjects using
event-related potential (ERP) analysis. Fibromyalgia patients attributed greater
pain and unpleasantness to pain pictures relative to healthy control
participants. An augmented late positive potential (LPP) component (>500 ms)
was found in patients during both pain and non-pain pictures, and this amplitude
difference in the LPP covaried with perceived unpleasantness of pictures.
Mid-latency potentials (250-450 ms) demonstrated similar amplitude increases of
positive potentials in the FMS patient group. By contrast, the short-latency
positive potential (140 ms) was reduced in FMS patients relative to healthy
control participants. Results suggest amplitude increases to mid-long latency
cortical activations in FMS patients, which are known to reflect emotional
control and motivational salience of stimuli.
PERSPECTIVE: FMS patients
demonstrate increased activations for pain and non-pain pictures. The findings
suggest that even innocuous, everyday visual stimuli with somatic connotations
may challenge the emotional state of FMS patients. Our study points towards the
importance of cognitive-emotional therapeutic approaches for the treatment of
FMS.
PMID: 25979860 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Link to Pubmed record
