Altered brain connectivity in dysmenorrhea

The OPRM1 A118G polymorphism modulates the descending pain modulatory system for individual pain experience in young women with primary dysmenorrhea

“…Increased SMA activation has been noted in G allele carriers compared with AA homozygotes during painful electrical stimulation35. Such PAG-SMA FC is a co-terminal to many chronic pelvic pain disorders and may implicate a dysfunctional DPMS involving the medial motor cortex and PAG714. The findings suggest that G allele carries can be associated with higher vulnerability for the development of chronic pain.…”

“…It is suggested that the maladaptive functional connectivity (FC) in the DPMS (PAG-ACC/mPFC and PAG-supplementary motor area [SMA]) in young PDM subjects may underpin the central susceptibility to subsequent development of various chronic pain disorders later in life7. Such PAG-ACC/mPFC hypo-FC is a co-terminal to many functional pain disorders, while altered SMA FC is common in chronic pelvic pain disorders714. Notably, there may even be developmental attributions for PDM owing to its association with a high prevalence of normal variants15.…”

Instant analgesic effect of radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy on primary dysmenorrhoea according to functional magnetic resonance imaging: study protocol for a randomised placebo-controlled trial

“…The data processing assistant for resting state fMRI (DPARSF 4.4) software package will be used to process MRI data on the MATLAB 2015b platform and obtain the ALFF values. The mean value of the amplitude of all frequency points within 0.01-0.08 Hz will be calculated; that is, the intensity of the BOLD signal changes will be calculated to obtain the brain map of the statistical parameter of amplitude, which will be used to describe the spontaneous activity of the voxel [23]. SPM12 software will be employed to perform two-sample t tests on the two groups of statistical brain maps.…”

“…To accurately elucidate the effect of rESWT, we will compare the changes in MRI indexes in the rESWT group and a sham rESWT group and test whether the changes in pain condition are related to changes in brain function after rESWT treatment. Although previous studies have examined brain function in patients with nervous disorders and abnormal change due to PDM, they only explored the disease itself and did not examine the intervention [23,25,26]. To our knowledge, our research will be the first to use MRI to reflect divergence of efficacy of rESWT treatment for PDM and the related neural mechanisms through a randomised controlled trial.…”

What is the meaning of “small-fiber polyneuropathy” in fibromyalgia? An alternate answer

“…6 And in “classical” SFPN, the severity of small-fiber loss predicts the severity of reduced functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala and precuneus. 7 Many peripheral pain syndromes, including dysmenorrhea in normal women, also produce brain imaging changes, 10 but surely no one believes that the brain is the primary cause of either SFPN or dysmenorrhea?…”