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Fibromyalgia is a common disease with a high economic burden. The etiology of this disease remains unclear, as there are no specific abnormalities on clinical or technical examinations. Evidence suggests that central pain sensitization at the brain pain matrix might be involved. Understanding the pain characteristics of this disease is of importance both for diagnosis and treatment. The authors present their findings of pain characteristics in a Belgium population of fibromyalgia patients. Data of 65 patients (57 male and 8 female patients) were analyzed in this study (mean age 46.86, SD = +8.79). Patients filled out the following questionnaires: visual analogue scale, fibromyalgia impact questionnaire, pain-catastrophizing scale, pain vigilance and awareness questionnaire, modified fatigue impact scale, the Beck depression inventory, the short form 36 and the Dutch shortened profile of mood states. Statistical analysis was performed making use of a factor analysis and a hierarchical cluster analysis. We were able to define pain characteristics in this group of patients. The reciprocal effects of mood and fatigue on pain experience could be identified within the data, catastrophizing scores show a high correlation with overall life quality and pain experience. We have performed a cluster analysis on the fibromyalgia patients, based on the four main principal components defining the overall disease burden. Mood explained most of the variance in symptoms, followed by mental health state, fatigue, and catastrophizing. Three clusters of patients could be revealed by these components. Clusters: 1 high scores on mood disorders, pain, and decreased mental health, 2 high scores on fatigue and physical health, and 3 a mixture of these two groups. This data suggest that different subgroups of fibromyalgia patients could be identified and based on that, treatment strategies and results might be adapted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal research has shown that loss of normal acoustic stimulation can increase spontaneous firing in the central auditory system and induce cortical map plasticity. Enriched acoustic environment after noise trauma prevents map plasticity and abolishes neural signs of tinnitus. In humans, the tinnitus spectrum overlaps with the area of hearing loss. Based on these findings it can be hypothesized that stimulating the auditory system by presenting music compensating specifically for the hearing loss might also suppress chronic tinnitus. To verify this hypothesis, a study was conducted in three groups of tinnitus patients. One group listened just to unmodified music (i.e. active control group), one group listened to music spectrally tailored to compensate for their hearing loss, and a third group received music tailored to overcompensate for their hearing loss, associated with one (in presbycusis) or two notches (in audiometric dip) at the edge of hearing loss. Our data indicate that applying overcompensation to the hearing loss worsens the patients' tinnitus loudness, the tinnitus annoyance and their depressive feelings. No significant effects were obtained for the control group or for the compensation group. These clinical findings were associated with an increase in current density within the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the alpha2 frequency band and within the left pregenual anterior cingulate cortex in beta1 and beta2 frequency band. In addition, a region of interest analysis also demonstrated an associated increase in gamma band activity in the auditory cortex after overcompensation in comparison to baseline measurements. This was, however, not the case for the control or the compensation groups. In conclusion, music therapy compensating for hearing loss is not beneficial in suppressing tinnitus, and overcompensating hearing loss actually worsens tinnitus, both clinically and electrophysiologically., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)