FIBROMYALGIA: CENTRAL FACTORS IN ITS ETIOPATHOGENESIS - SECOND CYCLE

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The overall aim of this investigation is to test 10 hypotheses derived from our empirically-based model of abnormal pain sensitivity in fibromyalgia (FM). The present study evaluates the effects of personally relevant, psychosocial stressors (i.e., stressful imagery) on the pain responses of female patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and sex-matched healthy controls using phasic and tonic thermal heat stimulation. These responses consist of stressor-evoked changes in (a) VAS ratings of pain and unpleasantness; and (b) regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) assessed by Xenon133 single photon emission computerized tomographic (SPECT) imaging. All participants are right-handed female patients with FM and healthy controls who do not currently meet DSM-IV criteria for Axis I affective disorders.