Patients with fibromyalgia display less functional connectivity in the brain’s pain inhibitory network

Molecular Pain

Table 2 Functional connectivity results in patients with FM and healthy controls

rACC seed: FM patients only (n = 28) (MNI: x = 8, y = 46, z = 4)	Maximum voxel	Cluster size	Maximum t-score	Cluster p-value
rACC/Medial prefrontal cortex	−8, 46, 4	16513	33.65	0.000**
Precuneus	6, −60, 26	2719	5.45	0.000**
Occipital cortex	44, −74, 32	611	4.78	0.000**
Occipital cortex	−44, −72, 38	516	4.39	0.001**
rACC seed: Healthy controls only (n = 14)
rACC/Medial prefrontal cortex	−8, 46, 4	7122	22.69	0.000**
Posterior Cingulum/Precuneus	2, −40, 38	4180	6.40	0.000**
Parietal/Angular cortex	−56, −60, 22	1020	5.62	0.000**
Parietal/Angular cortex	46, −70, 30	693	5.08	0.000**
rACC seed: FM patients > Healthy controls
No significant regions
rACC seed: Healthy controls > FM patients
Amygdala/Parahippocampal	−14, 0, −16	60	4.33	0.007*
Hippocampus	−20, −24, -12	51	4.23	0.009*
Brainstem/PAG/Hippocampus	12, -24, -12	32	3.61	0.018*
Thalamus seed: FM patients only (n = 28) (MNI: x = −14, y = −34, z = 12)
Thalamus	14, −34, 12	5523	30.91	0.000*
Thalamus seed: Healthy controls only (n = 14)
Thalamus	14, −34, 12	989	21.81	0.000**
Orbitofrontal cortex	−34, 50, −18	220	4.49	0.047**
Thalamus seed: FM patients > Healthy controls
No significant regions
Thalamus seed: Healthy controls > FM patients
Orbitofrontal cortex	−22, 54, −17	50	3.79	0.008*

** whole brain corrected for multiple comparisons * cluster corrected for multiple comparisons.
Brain regions exhibiting significant functional connectivity with the seed regions rACC and thalamus, respectively, during calibrated pressure-evoked pain (n = 42). The seed regions, together with the PAG, amygdala, Nucleus Accumbens, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, were considered regions of interest (ROI’s) and are marked in italics. The exact anatomical locations (x, y, z) are given in MNI coordinates. All results are corrected for multiple comparisons.

ISSN: 1744-8069