Cognitive Issues correlate with changes in Brain Structure

People with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) suffer from neurocognitive deficits that correlate with changes in brain structure, according to an article recently e-published ahead of print in the journal Brain.

The team of German researchers behind the article sought to determine whether neuropsychological deficits found in Fibro patients may be correlated with changes in local brain morphology (structure), specifically in the frontal, temporal or cingulate cortices. [1]

Twenty Fibro patients underwent extensive testing for potential neuropsychological deficits, which demonstrated significantly reduced working memory and impaired non-verbal long-term memory (limited to free recall condition) in comparison with data from age- and education-matched healthy control groups. [1]

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to evaluate whether there was any correlation between the neuropsychological test results and local brain morphology.

The researchers found that non-verbal working memory performance was positively correlated with grey matter values in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, whereas performance on verbal working memory (digit backward) was positively correlated with grey matter values in the supplementary motor cortex. On the other hand, pain scores were negatively correlated with grey matter values in the medial frontal gyrus. White matter analyses revealed comparable correlations for verbal working memory and pain scores in the medial frontal and prefrontal cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. [1]

An accumulating body of evidence suggests that Fibro is associated with dysfunction of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and with altered brain morphology and function. This study provides more evidence for this, and also for the link between changes in the brain and the cognitive difficulties experienced by Fibro patients.

References:

1. Luerding R, Weigand T, Bogdahn U, Schmidt-Wilcke T. Working memory performance is correlated with local brain morphology in the medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortex in fibromyalgia patients: structural correlates of pain-cognition interaction. Brain. 2008 Sep 26. [Epub ahead of print]