Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)
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Arthritis Rheumatol · May 2015
Observational StudyCharacteristics of fibromyalgia independently predict poorer long-term analgesic outcomes following total knee and hip arthroplasty.
While psychosocial factors have been associated with poorer outcomes after knee and hip arthroplasty, we hypothesized that augmented pain perception, as occurs in conditions such as fibromyalgia, may account for decreased responsiveness to primary knee and hip arthroplasty. ⋯ Our findings indicate that the fibromyalgia survey score is a robust predictor of poorer arthroplasty outcomes, even among individuals whose score falls well below the threshold for the categorical diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
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Arthritis Rheumatol · May 2015
The somatosensory link in fibromyalgia: functional connectivity of the primary somatosensory cortex is altered by sustained pain and is associated with clinical/autonomic dysfunction.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic functional pain syndrome characterized by widespread pain, significant pain catastrophizing, sympathovagal dysfunction, and amplified temporal summation for evoked pain. While several studies have demonstrated altered resting brain connectivity in FM, studies have not specifically probed the somatosensory system and its role in both somatic and nonsomatic FM symptoms. Our objective was to evaluate resting primary somatosensory cortex (S1) connectivity and to explore how sustained, evoked deep tissue pain modulates this connectivity. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that both somatic and nonsomatic dysfunction in FM, including clinical pain, pain catastrophizing, autonomic dysfunction, and amplified temporal summation, are closely linked with the degree to which evoked deep tissue pain alters S1 connectivity to salience/affective pain-processing regions. Additionally, diminished connectivity between S1 subregions during the rest phase in FM may result from ongoing widespread clinical pain.
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Arthritis Rheumatol · May 2015
Predictive value of serial high-resolution computed tomography analyses and concurrent lung function tests in systemic sclerosis.
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) carries a high risk of progressive interstitial lung disease (ILD), but tools for stratifying individual risk are scarce. The purpose of this study was to assess detailed data from serial lung fibrosis measurements and paired pulmonary function tests (PFTs) as outcome prediction tools in a prospective cohort of SSc patients. ⋯ These prospective cohort data suggest that HRCT performed at baseline predicts the development of fibrosis, the rate of progression of fibrosis, and the decline in pulmonary function in SSc.