Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition
9 May 2026 – 14 May 2026 · Cape Town, South Africa
460-01-013 ISMRM Abstract

Pain and Cognitive Performance in Fibromyalgia: A Simultaneous Brain-Spinal Cord fMRI Study

Primary: Brain Function and fMRI - Task/Intervention Based fMRI
Secondary: Neuro - Spinal Cord
460-01-013 · Brain Physiology and Pain · Tuesday, 12 May, 8:20 AM–9:15 AM · Digital Posters Row A
Keywords: Effective Connectivity Spinal Cord Pain Cognitive Dysfunction Fibromyalgia
Accepted
Chiara Bernardini1, Giulio Dolcini2, Martina Favretti2, Cristina Iannuccelli3, michela fratini1,4, Manuela Di Franco5, Federico Giove1,6, Gemma Calamandrei7, Valeria Oliva 1,7,8
1Neuroimaging Laboratory, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
2Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
3Rheumatology Unit, AOU Policlinico Umberto I, Rome, Italy
4Institute of Nanotechnology, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy
5Department of Internal Clinical, Anaesthesiologic and Cardiovascular Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
6CREF - Museo storico della fisica e Centro studi e ricerche Enrico Ferm, Rome, Italy
7Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy
8Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford Medicine, Stanford, United States of America
Presenting Author: Valeria Oliva

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References

1. Clauw D. J. (2014). Fibromyalgia: a clinical review. JAMA, 311(15), 1547–1555. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2014.3266 [doi]
2. Seo J, Kim SH, Kim YT, Song HJ, Lee JJ, Kim SH, Han SW, Nam EJ, Kim SK, Lee HJ, Lee SJ, Chang Y. Working memory impairment in fibromyalgia patients associated with altered frontoparietal memory network. PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e37808. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037808. Epub 2012 Jun 8. PMID: 22715371; PMCID: PMC3370998. [doi] [pmid]
3. Martucci, K. T., Weber, K. A., 2nd, & Mackey, S. C. (2019). Altered Cervical Spinal Cord Resting-State Activity in Fibromyalgia. Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.), 71(3), 441–450. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.40746 [doi]
4. Pfyffer, Dario, Merve Kaptan, Christine S. W. Law, Kenneth A. Weber II, Valeria Oliva, Sandrine Bédard, Teresa Indriolo, Tara Maronesy, Gary H. Glover, and Sean Mackey. 2025. “Brain and Spinal Cord Correlates of Deficient Endogenous Pain Modulation in Fibromyalgia Identified by Corticospinal Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.” The Journal of Pain: Official Journal of the American Pain Society 29 (105157): 105157.doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105157 [doi]
5. Finsterbusch J, Eippert F, Büchel C. Single, slice-specific z-shim gradient pulses improve T2*-weighted imaging of the spinal cord. Neuroimage. 2012 Feb 1;59(3):2307-15. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.09.038. Epub 2011 Sep 22. PMID: 21979381. [doi] [pmid]
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7. De Leener B, Lévy S, Dupont SM, Fonov VS, Stikov N, Louis Collins D, Callot V, Cohen-Adad J. SCT: Spinal Cord Toolbox, an open-source software for processing spinal cord MRI data. Neuroimage. 2017 Jan 15;145(Pt A):24-43. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.10.009. Epub 2016 Oct 5. PMID: 27720818. [doi] [pmid]
8. O'Reilly JX, Woolrich MW, Behrens TE, Smith SM, Johansen-Berg H. Tools of the trade: psychophysiological interactions and functional connectivity. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Jun;7(5):604-9. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss055. Epub 2012 May 7. PMID: 22569188; PMCID: PMC3375893. [doi] [pmid]
9. Oliva V, Gregory R, Brooks JCW, Pickering AE. Central pain modulatory mechanisms of attentional analgesia are preserved in fibromyalgia. Pain. 2022 Jan 1;163(1):125-136. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002319. PMID: 33941755; PMCID: PMC8675057. [doi] [pmid]
10. Seminowicz, D. A., & Davis, K. D. (2007). Interactions of pain intensity and cognitive load: the brain stays on task. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 17(6), 1412–1422. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhl052 [doi]

Cite this abstract

http://echo.ismrm.org/p/ISMRM2026/460-01-013