An MRI study has suggested that chronic fatigue syndrome may be linked with a dysfunction in the midbrain, challenging claims that it is not an organic illness.
Using MRI scanning, researchers at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide say they found signs that white matter volume in the midbrain decreased with increasing fatigue duration in patients with CFS.
This “midbrain dysfunction”, they say, could explain many of the symptoms of CFS which are normally consistent with autonomic nervous system, immunological and cardiovascular dysfunction.
For the study (see link) in NMR in Biomedicine (online May 11), around 25 patients with CFS and 25 normal controls underwent an MRI scan, and were also scored based...
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