Pain Ratings and Somatosensory Evoked Responses to Repetitive Intramuscular and Intracutaneous Stimulation in Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Abstract

To determine the presence of perceptual sensitization and related brain responses we examined 15 patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and 15 healthy controls comparable in age and sex. Multichannel EEG recordings and pain ratings were obtained during the presentation of 800 painful electrical intramuscular and intracutaneous stimuli to the left m. erector spinae and the left m. extensor digitorum. The stimulus intensity was adjusted to 50% between pain threshold and tolerance. Detection and pain thresholds were significantly lower in the fibromyalgia syndrome group. Sensitization occurred for both groups during intramuscular stimulation. In the EEG data the fibromyalgia syndrome patients showed higher N80 amplitudes compared with the healthy controls. Arm stimulation and intramuscular stimulation yielded higher N80 and N150 amplitudes compared with intracutaneous stimulation or stimulation of the back. These results indicate lower pain thresholds in the fibromyalgia syndrome patients after electrical stimulation and a higher N80 amplitude both indicative of enhanced sensory processing in this group.