Complex regional pain syndrome: imaging technique shows brain alterations

People who have complex regional pain syndrome may have decreased thickness of areas of the cortex (the brain’s outer layer of nerve tissue). And they also seem to experience some degree of neurocognitive dysfunction, according to the findings that are published in Pain.
Experts measured cortical thickness to see if there were differences in brain structures between 25 people with complex regional pain syndrome and 25 healthy people.
Two areas were thinner in people with complex regional pain syndrome:
• The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex;
• The left ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
People with complex regional pain syndrome made more errors on a standard card sorting test. And they had longer reaction times on a stop signal task.
“These alterations may explain executive dysfunction and disinhibited pain perception,” the authors comment. “These findings may contribute to the understanding of pain-related impairments in cognitive function and could help explain the symptoms or progression of complex regional pain syndrome.”

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Image credit: Umberto Salvagnin