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US 10,881,322 B2Granted
Neurophysiological signatures for fibromyalgia
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate
InventorsTor Wager, Marina Lopez-Sola
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Abstract
Described herein are novel fMRI-based neurologic signatures that predict fibromyalgia (FM), clinical severity, and treatment outcomes. Further described are methods for diagnosing FM and for predicting or evaluating efficacy of a treatment of FM based on the neurologic signature.
Claims20
A method of detecting fibromyalgia (FM) in a subject comprising:
- applying a stimulus to a subject known to have FM, wherein the stimulus is a non-painful, multisensory stimulus comprising visual, auditory, and tactile-motor stimulation;
- detecting brain activity of the subject known to have FM in response to the stimulus using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and generating a neurologic signature map of brain activity indicative of FM in response to the stimulus;
- applying a stimulus to a patient suspected of having FM, wherein the stimulus is selected from at least one of:
- a non-painful, multisensory stimulus comprising visual, auditory, and tactile-motor stimulation;
- detecting brain activity of the patient in response to the stimulus using fMRI and generating a brain map of the patient representing the brain activity of the patient in response to the stimulus;
- comparing the brain map of the patient to said neurologic signature map indicative of FM;
- and,
- diagnosing FM in the patient if the brain map of the patient is at least 70% identical to said neurologic signature map indicative of FM.
5 more elements
A method of evaluating the efficacy of a putative treatment of fibromyalgia (FM) in a subject comprising:
- a. applying a stimulus to the subject, wherein the stimulus is selected from at least one of:
- i. a pressure pain stimulus, and
- ii. a non-painful, multisensory stimulus comprising visual, auditory, and tactile-motor stimulation;
- b. detecting brain activity of the subject in response to the stimulus using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and generating a brain map of the subject representing the brain activity of the subject in response to the stimulus;
- c. comparing the brain map of the subject to a neurologic signature map, wherein the neurologic signature map represents brain activity indicative of FM in the subject;
- d. administering a putative treatment of FM to the subject;
- e. applying a stimulus to the subject, wherein the stimulus is selected from at least one of:
- i. a pressure pain stimulus, and
- ii. a non-painful, multisensory stimulus comprising visual, auditory and tactile-motor stimulation;
- f. detecting brain activity of the subject in response to the stimulus using fMRI and generating a brain map of the subject representing the brain activity of the subject in response to the stimulus;
- g. comparing the brain map of the subject to a neurologic signature map, wherein the neurologic signature map represents brain activity indicative of FM in the subject;
- h. evaluating the putative treatment to be efficacious in the treatment of FM if the subject's brain map created prior to administration of the putative treatment is more similar to the neurologic signature map than after the administration of the putative treatment.
9 more elements
A fibromyalgia (FM) evaluation system comprising:
- a memory operable to store magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data content;
- a processor in communication with the memory, the processor operable to:
- execute an analysis of stored data operable to:
- compare functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) data content for two or more MRI data sets;
- determine data characteristics in one or more MRI data sets;
- and
- receive a criteria to sort the two or more MRI data sets, wherein the criteria comprises:
- 1) fMRI analysis of a subject receiving a pressure pain stimulus;
- 2) fMRI analysis of brain regions of major targets of ascending nociceptive afferents selected from the group consisting of the thalamus, primary and secondary somatosensory regions (SI/SII), posterior, mid and anterior insula and adjacent opercula, midbrain, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, amygdala, and combinations thereof in a subject receiving a pressure pain stimulus;
- and
- 3) fMRI analysis of a subject receiving non-painful, multisensory stimulus;
- and
- execute a user interface application in communication with the MRI data service, the user interface application operable to provide a first view of two or more thumbnails associated with each of the MRI data sets based on the data characteristic and the criteria, wherein the first view includes two or more thumbnails associated with the two or more MRI data sets.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.