Bentivenga Crescenzio, Cicero Arrigo Francesco Giuseppe, Fogacci Federica, Politi Natalia Evangelia, Di Micoli Antonio, Cosentino Eugenio Roberto, Gionchetti Paolo, Borghi Claudio
Cardiovascular Medicine Unit, Heart, Thoracic and Vascular Department, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, 40100 Bologna, Italy.
Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk Research Center, Medical and Surgical Sciences Department, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40100 Bologna, Italy.
Pharmaceutics. 2025 Jul 31;17(8):1004. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics17081004.
Fibromyalgia is a complex disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and a variety of related symptoms. Growing evidence suggests that the central and peripheral nervous systems are involved, with small fiber neuropathy playing a key role in its development. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 100 patients diagnosed with primary fibromyalgia. Those showing symptoms indicative of small fiber dysfunction who were treated with L-Acetyl Carnitine (LAC) and Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) alongside standard care (SOC) were compared to matched controls who received only SOC. To ensure comparable groups, propensity score matching was used. Changes in Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Revised (FIQR) scores over 12 weeks were analyzed using non-parametric tests due to the data's non-normal distribution. After matching, 86 patients (43 in each group) were included. The group receiving LAC and PEA as add-on therapy experienced a significant median reduction in FIQR scores (-19.0 points, < 0.001), while the SOC-only group showed no significant change. Comparisons between groups confirmed that the improvement was significantly greater in the LAC+PEA group ( < 0.001). These results suggest that adding LAC and PEA to standard care may provide meaningful symptom relief for fibromyalgia patients with suspected small fiber involvement. This supports the hypothesis that peripheral nervous system dysfunction contributes to the disease burden in this subgroup. However, further prospective controlled studies are needed to confirm these promising findings.
纤维肌痛是一种复杂的疾病,其特征为慢性广泛性疼痛及多种相关症状。越来越多的证据表明,中枢和外周神经系统均参与其中,小纤维神经病变在其发病过程中起关键作用。我们回顾性分析了100例原发性纤维肌痛患者的病历。将那些表现出小纤维功能障碍症状且在接受标准治疗(SOC)的同时接受L-乙酰肉碱(LAC)和棕榈酰乙醇胺(PEA)治疗的患者与仅接受SOC的匹配对照组进行比较。为确保组间可比,采用了倾向得分匹配法。由于数据呈非正态分布,使用非参数检验分析了12周内纤维肌痛影响问卷修订版(FIQR)评分的变化。匹配后,纳入86例患者(每组43例)。接受LAC和PEA作为附加治疗的组FIQR评分中位数显著降低(-19.0分,<0.0),而仅接受SOC治疗的组无显著变化。组间比较证实,LAC+PEA组的改善更为显著(<0.001)。这些结果表明,在标准治疗中添加LAC和PEA可能为疑似小纤维受累的纤维肌痛患者提供有意义的症状缓解。这支持了外周神经系统功能障碍导致该亚组疾病负担的假说。然而,需要进一步的前瞻性对照研究来证实这些有前景的发现。