Multimodal and simultaneous assessments of brain and spinal fluid abnormalities in chronic fatigue syndrome and the effects of psychiatric comorbidity.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether CFS patients without comorbid psychiatric diagnoses differ from CFS patients with comorbid psychiatric diagnoses and healthy control subjects in neuropsychological performance, the proportion with elevated spinal fluid protein or white cell counts, cerebral blood flow (CBF), brain ventricular lactate and cortical glutathione (GSH). The results of the study did not show any differences in any of the outcome measures between CFS patients with and without psychiatric comorbidity, thus indicating that psychiatric status may not be an exacerbating factor in CFS. Importantly, significant differences were found between the pooled samples of CFS compared to controls. These included lower GSH and CBF and higher ventricular lactate and rates of spinal fluid abnormalities in CFS patients compared to healthy controls. Thirteen of 26 patients had abnormal values on two or more of these 4 brain-related variables. These findings, which replicate the results of several of our prior studies, support the presence of a number of neurobiological and spinal fluid abnormalities in CFS. These results will lead to further investigation into objective biomarkers of the disorder to advance the understanding of CFS.
Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States. Electronic address: Benjamin.natelson@mssm.edu.
Benjamin H
BH
Natelson
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
Xiangling
X
Mao
Aaron J
AJ
Stegner
Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
Gudrun
G
Lange
Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
Diana
D
Vu
Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
Michelle
M
Blate
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
Guoxin
G
Kang
Department of Pain Management, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
Eli
E
Soto
Department of Pain Management, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
Tolga
T
Kapusuz
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
Dikoma C
DC
Shungu
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
D019344:Lactic Acid; D005978:Glutathione