CASE REPORT   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2019 March;178(3):161-2

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.17.03710-X

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Effect of hyperbaric therapy on cerebral blood flow in a patient with fibromyalgia

Lucia LELLI ¹ ✉, Paolo TANASI ², Laura DE FINA ², Massimo TOSTI BALDUCCI ¹, Morando GRECHI ¹

¹ Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, AUSL Toscana Sudest, Grosseto, Italy; ² Hyperbaric Unit, Department of Emergency Medicine, AUSL Toscana Sudest, Grosseto, Italy

Fibromyalgia syndrome is considered to be one of the most common causes of musculoskeletal pain and disability and it may be related to a global dysfunction of cerebral pain processing, notably involving central sensitization. Diagnosis of fibromyalgia syndrome is based only on clinical symptoms and no laboratory investigation is available to confirm the clinical diagnosis; recent findings showed that patients with fibromyalgia syndrome exhibit significant cerebral perfusion abnormalities. This report describes the improvement in cerebral blood flow, as evaluated by 99mTc-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime single photon emission tomography, as well as a significant amelioration of symptoms in a 45 years old woman with fibromyalgia syndrome after treatment with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

KEY WORDS: Fibromyalgia - Hyperbaric oxygenation - Perfusion imaging