The ME Association of Great Britain has provided an excellent review of a recent study on brain matter abnormalities in ME/CFS patients. The study, Grey and white matter differences in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – A voxel-based morphometry study, was conducted by Julia Newton’s group at Newcastle University. Below is an excerpt from Dr. Shepherd’s summary of the study. To read a full discussion, along with an excellent overview of brain pathology and the implications of these brain abnormalities, go HERE. You can download the full review as a PDF file.
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Comment from Dr Charles Shepherd, Hon Medical Adviser, ME Association:
This study was carried out in Newcastle by Professor Julia Newton and colleagues – a team who have not only achieved a long and distinguished record in ME/CFS research but also have access to patients who have been very carefully assessed from a clinical point of view. So, the results should be taken seriously.
As has been pointed out in this review, three of the main criticisms of previous neuroimaging studies involving people with ME/CFS is that the numbers involved have often been far too small; there has been a lack of information from other control groups that would be relevant in addition to the use of healthy controls; and that different imaging techniques have been used. So, not surprisingly, the results are not always consistent.
Despite these caveats, these results clearly add weight to the findings from previous neuroimaging studies describing white matter abnormalities in ME/CFS but also raise the possibility of grey matter involvement in ME/CFS.
There are several possible explanations for these findings but no clear answer has emerged in the paper. Are they a primary feature of ME/CFS? Or are they secondary to other factors – e.g. duration of illness, decrease in activity, severity of fatigue – that are related to having ME/CFS? The only way to find out is through further research into what is clearly an interesting aspect of neuropathology in ME/CFS.
A fully referenced summary of all the key findings from both functional and structural neuroimaging studies in ME/CFS can be found in the Research section of the ME Association ‘An Exploration of the Key Clinical Issues’ available from our online shop.
You can read the rest of this brief summary HERE.