Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Linked To Several Brain Abnormalities

Many patients dealing with chronic fatigue may have been called lazy or useless. As the detectable tests for this health issue are still in the works, people suffering from this potentially debilitating condition are often overlooked, medically speaking. Yet recent findings show that these patients are more likely to have various brain abnormalities. 

Researchers discovered that over 1 million individuals in the United States deal with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a health problem that is still difficult to properly diagnose. Yet this study showed that brain scans can help to highlight symptoms of the issue. 

"Using a trio of sophisticated imaging methodologies, we found that CFS patients' brains diverge from those of healthy subjects in at least three distinct ways," said lead author Michael Zeineh, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, in a news release.

During the study, researchers discovered several abnormalities in the brains of CFS patients, including a reduction in the white matter as well as nerve fibers that form communication between cells.

"CFS is one of the greatest scientific and medical challenges of our time," said the study's senior author, Jose Montoya, MD, professor of infectious diseases and geographic medicine, in the press release. "Its symptoms often include not only overwhelming fatigue but also joint and muscle pain, incapacitating headaches, food intolerance, sore throat, enlargement of the lymph nodes, gastrointestinal problems, abnormal blood-pressure and heart-rate events, and hypersensitivity to light, noise or other sensations."

With future studies and discoveries, researchers are hoping to find a more proper diagnostic test to determine the syndrome along with treatments for the problem. 

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Radiology.