Back to Search
Start Over
Patients with pain disorder show gray-matter loss in pain-processing structures: a voxel-based morphometric study.
- Source :
-
Psychosomatic medicine [Psychosom Med] 2009 Jan; Vol. 71 (1), pp. 49-56. Date of Electronic Publication: 2008 Dec 10. - Publication Year :
- 2009
-
Abstract
- Objective: To investigate whether the functional changes in pain disorder might be reflected by structural brain changes. Pain disorder assessed with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) criteria is characterized by persistent and distressing chronic pain at one or more body sites which cannot be fully explained by a physiological process or somatic disorder. Psychological factors are thought to play a major role. Recent neuroimaging studies evidenced altered pain processing in patients suffering from this disorder.<br />Methods: Fourteen right-handed women fulfilling the DSM-IV criteria for pain disorder and 25 healthy age-matched women were investigated with magnetic resonance imaging. In the voxel-based morphometry analysis, we compared both groups for changes of gray-matter density. We included age and Beck Depression Inventory scores as nuisance variables to minimize possible confounding effects of age or depressive comorbidity.<br />Results: In the patient group, we found significant gray-matter decreases in the prefrontal, cingulate, and insular cortex. These regions are known to be critically involved in the modulation of subjective pain experiences.<br />Conclusions: In the context of similar results in patients with other functional pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia and chronic back pain, we suggest that structural changes in fronto-limbic brain circuits represent not only an objective marker of these pain syndromes but also constitute a critical pathophysiological element. These findings represent a further proof of the important role of central changes in pain disorder.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Anthropometry
Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic
Depression complications
Depression pathology
Depressive Disorder, Major complications
Depressive Disorder, Major pathology
Female
Germany epidemiology
Gyrus Cinguli pathology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Middle Aged
Pain epidemiology
Pain psychology
Prefrontal Cortex pathology
Somatoform Disorders epidemiology
Somatoform Disorders psychology
Cerebral Cortex pathology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Pain pathology
Somatoform Disorders pathology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1534-7796
- Volume :
- 71
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Psychosomatic medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 19073757
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31818d1e02