Finkelmeyer, Andreas, He, Jiabao, Maclachlan, Laura et al. · NeuroImage. Clinical · 2018 · DOI
Researchers used advanced brain imaging (MRI) to compare the brains of 42 people with ME/CFS to 30 healthy people. They found differences in how much grey matter and white matter the ME/CFS patients had in certain brain regions. Specifically, people with ME/CFS had more grey matter in areas that process internal body signals and stress, but less white matter in regions involved in the brainstem and midbrain.
This study provides objective neuroimaging evidence of structural brain differences in ME/CFS, helping validate that the condition has detectable biological markers. The findings in stress-processing and interoceptive regions may help explain why patients experience heightened symptom sensitivity and could guide future treatment approaches targeting these specific brain areas.
This study cannot establish whether the observed brain differences cause ME/CFS symptoms or result from prolonged illness and deconditioning. As a cross-sectional snapshot, it does not demonstrate whether these structural changes develop before symptom onset, during illness progression, or as a consequence of living with the disease. The findings show correlation, not causation.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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