underestimated problem.]
[Article in German]
Schmidt-Wilcke T, Wood P, Lürding R.
Schmerz. 2010 Jan 29. [Epub ahead of print]
Neurologische Klinik der Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Deutschland,
tobiass@med.umich.edu.
The primary symptom of fibromyalgia (FM) is chronic, widespread pain
accompanied by diffuse tenderness to light palpation. However, many patients
report a multitude of additional complaints and symptoms. Besides fatigue,
exhaustibility and stiffness, a decrease in concentration and memory are
further complaints that add significantly to the degree of suffering. This
complaint, often termed "fibrofog", is increasingly recognised as an
independent symptom that has made its way into the medical literature under
the term "dyscognition". Nonetheless there are only a few studies that have
specifically investigated neuropsychological deficits in FM patients in
order to further specify clinical complaints. The studies performed so far
have provided increasing evidence that FM patients have attention and
working memory deficits, which are most prominent when patients have to cope
with an additional source of distraction. With this review we intend to give
an overview of the neuropsychological studies in FM performed so far and to
assess possible implications for the underlying pathophysiology. In
addition, we discuss potential clinical approaches to these symptoms. A
systematic literature review up to June 2009 was carried out using the
keywords (pairs) "fibromyalgia" and "cognition", "fibromyalgia" and
"dyscognition", "fibromyalgia" and "cognitive deficits".
PMID: 20108102 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
