Brainstem volume changes in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID patients

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Thapaliya, Kiran
Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya
Barth, Markus
Eaton-Fitch, Natalie
Barnden, Leighton
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2023
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Abstract

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID patients have overlapping neurological, autonomic, pain, and post-exertional symptoms. We compared volumes of brainstem regions for 10 ME/CFS (CCC or ICC criteria), 8 long COVID (WHO Delphi consensus), and 10 healthy control (HC) subjects on 3D, T1-weighted MRI images acquired using sub-millimeter isotropic resolution using an ultra-high field strength of 7 Tesla. Group comparisons with HC detected significantly larger volumes in ME/CFS for pons (p = 0.004) and whole brainstem (p = 0.01), and in long COVID for pons (p = 0.003), superior cerebellar peduncle (p = 0.009), and whole brainstem (p = 0.005). No significant differences were found between ME/CFS and long COVID volumes. In ME/CFS, we detected positive correlations between the pons and whole brainstem volumes with “pain” and negative correlations between the midbrain and whole brainstem volumes with “breathing difficulty.” In long COVID patients a strong negative relationship was detected between midbrain volume and “breathing difficulty.” Our study demonstrated an abnormal brainstem volume in both ME/CFS and long COVID consistent with the overlapping symptoms.

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Frontiers in Neuroscience

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17

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© 2023 Thapaliya, Marshall-Gradisnik, Barth, Eaton-Fitch and Barnden. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Neurosciences

Biological psychology

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Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Neurosciences & Neurology

myalgic encephalomyelitis

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Thapaliya, K; Marshall-Gradisnik, S; Barth, M; Eaton-Fitch, N; Barnden, L, Brainstem volume changes in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID patients, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2023, 17, pp. 1125208

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