Brain Scan Abnormailities

In the Clinical Correlate of Brain SPECT Perfusion Abnormalities in Fibromyalgia study published in November 2008 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, French researchers discovered a brain abnormality in fibromyalgia patients. When compared with healthy study subjects, people with fibromyalgia had blood flow abnormalities in the brain. It has always been thought that the pain suffered by fibromyalgia patients is the result of depression, but this study did not prove this connection.

Twenty women with fibromyalgia and 10 healthy women answered questions about pain, disability, anxiety, and depression. Each also underwent a brain scan known as a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to detect blood flow abnormailities within the brain. The fibromyalgia patients showed an increase in blood flow to the parts of the brain that help the body sense pain, suggesting an over stimulation of this process. Brain abnormalities of this type can also alter the severity of a disease; the level of severe pain in fibromyalgia patients is always a source of discussion. The scan also showed a decrease in blood flow to the brain that is responsible for the role in emotional response to pain, connecting to the theory that depression or emotion is not connected to the pain being felt by these fibromyalgia patients.

The research team had previously made the connection between functional abnormalities in the brain in fibromyalgia patients, but now are taking the connection a step further. This latest research shows that the brain abnormalities are connected with disease severity. It demonstrates that fibromyalgia patients do show measurable differences when compared with individuals without the condition.

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