Kimura, Yukio, Sato, Noriko, Ota, Miho et al. · Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI · 2019 · DOI
Researchers used advanced brain imaging to examine 20 ME/CFS patients and 23 healthy people. The imaging revealed that people with ME/CFS had subtle structural differences in specific brain regions involved in communication, thinking, and sensation. These differences were not visible on standard brain scans but were detected using newer, more detailed imaging techniques.
This study provides objective neuroimaging evidence of structural brain changes in ME/CFS, which could help validate the condition as a biological disorder and support development of diagnostic biomarkers. For patients, identifying specific brain abnormalities strengthens scientific recognition of ME/CFS as a real neurological condition rather than psychiatric or psychosomatic.
This study does not establish whether these brain abnormalities cause ME/CFS symptoms or result from them, nor does it determine if these changes are progressive or reversible. The findings are correlational, not causal, and the small sample size means results require replication before clinical application. It also does not explain the biological mechanisms producing these structural changes.
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 →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Kimura, Yukio, Sato, Noriko, Ota, Miho, Shigemoto, Yoko, Morimoto, Emiko, Enokizono, Mikako, et al. (2019). Brain abnormalities in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: Evaluation by diffusional kurtosis imaging and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging.. Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.26247
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kimura-2019-brain-abnormalities,
author = {Kimura, Yukio and Sato, Noriko and Ota, Miho and Shigemoto, Yoko and Morimoto, Emiko and Enokizono, Mikako and Matsuda, Hiroshi and Shin, Isu and Amano, Keiko and Ono, Hirohiko and Sato, Wakiro and Yamamura, Takashi},
title = {Brain abnormalities in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: Evaluation by diffusional kurtosis imaging and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging.},
journal = {Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1002/jmri.26247},
note = {PubMed: 30430664},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kimura-2019-brain-abnormalities},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kimura-2019-brain-abnormalities
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