Virtual reality exposure therapy as treatment for pain catastrophizing in Fibromyalgia patients : proof-of-concept

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Research objectiveTo test a novel concept that exposing patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) to visuals of exercise activities elicits neurophysiological changes in functional brain areas associated with pain catastrophization; thereby providing preliminary support for the further development/testing of a virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) exercise program aimed at reducing pain catastrophization toward exercise therapy in patients with FMS.MethodsThe main study of this research consisted of a three-phase exploratory fMRI study. Phase 1 involved the development/validation of the fMRI visual task. Phase 2 involved the exploration of the differences in neural correlates associated with pain catastrophizing between participants with FMS and healthy controls when exposed to various visuals of exercise and passive/relaxing activities. Phase 3 involved the testing of the preliminary efficacy of a novel VRET exercise program on pain catastrophization in participants with FMS. The fMRI task consisted of two stimuli: active (exercise activity visuals)/passive (relaxing activity visuals). Structural images as well as blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) contrasts were acquired for the conditions and compared within-subjects/groups and between-groups. The condition of interest was the active>passive condition (where brain activations for the passive condition were subtracted from the active condition). The brain volumes collected during ‗on' conditions were compared with the brain volumes collected during ‗off' conditions using Students' t test. Statistic images were thresholded using clusters determined by Z>2.3 and a (corrected) cluster significance threshold of p=0.05. ResultsThe right (R) middle and inferior frontal gyrus and R posterior cerebellum were significantly activated for the participants with FMS, and not the healthy control group, during the active>passive condition (phase 2). At baseline, during the active>passive condition (phase 3), the intervention/VRET group showed significant activation (p<0.05) in the R insular cortex, R anterior and posterior cerebellum, R parahippocampal gyrus, R middle frontal gyrus, R corpus callosum, R thalamus, R supramarginal gyrus and R middle and superior temporal gyrus; the control group showed significant activation in the R anterior and posterior cerebellum, R middle and superior temporal gyrus, R middle frontal gyrus, R insular cortex, R supramarginal gyrus and R precentral gyrus. Post-intervention, during the active>passive condition, R posterior cerebellum activation was still significant (p<0.05) for the intervention group; R anterior cerebellum, left (L) middle and inferior frontal gyrus, and R superior parietal lobe activation was found to be significant (p<0.000) for the control group, although these areas were not found to be significantly activated at baseline for the control group.ConclusionWe could not provide confirmatory evidence for the efficacy of a novel VRET program for pain catastrophization in patients with FMS. However, the findings of this study does suggest that pain catastrophization in patients with FMS could be confirmed with fMRI. Research is therefore warranted to further develop a proper VRET exercise program and to test the effect of this program on pain catastrophization in patients with FMS.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University