Cognition and Behaviour, Donders Institute for Brain, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Cognition and Behaviour, Donders Institute for Brain, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
J Pain. 2019 Dec;20(12):1446-1458. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2019.05.011. Epub 2019 May 30.
Using the EEG recordings of patients with endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain, we have examined the effective connectivity within the cortical pain-related network during rest and during pain-related imagery. During rest, an altered connectivity was hypothesized between cortical somatosensory pain areas and regions involved in emotional and cognitive modulation of pain. During pain-related imagery, alterations in prefrontal-temporal connectivity were expected. The effective connectivity was estimated using the Directed Transfer Function method. Differences between endometriosis patients and controls were found in the beta band (14-25 Hz). During rest, endometriosis was associated with an increased connectivity from the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the left somatosensory cortex and also from the left somatosensory cortex to the orbitofrontal cortex and the right temporal cortex. These results might be related to sustained activation of the somatosensory pain system caused by the ongoing pain. During pain-related imagery, endometriosis patients showed an increased connectivity from the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the right temporal cortex. This finding might point to impaired emotional regulation when processing pain-related stimuli, or it might be related to altered memorization of pain experiences. Results of this study open up new directions in chronic pain research aimed at exploring the beta band connectivity alterations. PERSPECTIVE: This study examined the pain system's dynamics in endometriosis patients with chronic pelvic pain during resting-state and pain-related mental imagery. The results could contribute to the development of new therapies using guided mental imagery.
使用子宫内膜异位症相关慢性盆腔疼痛患者的脑电图记录，我们研究了静息状态和疼痛相关想象期间皮质疼痛相关网络内的有效连接。在静息状态下，假设皮质躯体感觉疼痛区域与涉及情绪和疼痛认知调节的区域之间存在改变的连接。在疼痛相关想象期间，预计会出现前额叶-颞叶连接的改变。使用有向传递函数方法估计有效连接。在β频带（14-25 Hz）中发现子宫内膜异位症患者和对照组之间存在差异。在静息状态下，子宫内膜异位症与左侧背外侧前额叶皮层到左侧躯体感觉皮层的连接增加有关，也与左侧躯体感觉皮层到眶额皮层和右侧颞叶皮层的连接增加有关。这些结果可能与持续的疼痛引起的躯体感觉疼痛系统的持续激活有关。在疼痛相关想象期间，子宫内膜异位症患者的左侧背外侧前额叶皮层到右侧颞叶皮层的连接增加。这一发现可能表明在处理疼痛相关刺激时情绪调节受损，或者与疼痛经历的记忆改变有关。本研究的结果为探索β频带连接改变的慢性疼痛研究开辟了新的方向。观点：本研究检查了慢性盆腔疼痛的子宫内膜异位症患者在静息状态和疼痛相关心理意象期间疼痛系统的动态。这些结果可能有助于开发使用引导心理意象的新疗法。
