RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Altered cognitive processing of tactile stimuli in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 146613
DO 10.1101/146613
A1 Anoop Kuttikat
A1 Valdas Noreika
A1 Srivas Chennu
A1 Nicholas Shenker
A1 Tristan Bekinschtein
A1 Christopher A. Brown
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/07/146613.abstract
AB Chronic pain in CRPS has been linked to tactile misperceptions and deficits in somatotopic representation of the affected limb. Here, we identify altered cognitive processing of tactile stimuli in CRPS patients that we propose marks heterogeneity in tactile decision-making mechanisms. In a case-control design, we compared middle and late-latency somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) in response to pseudo-randomised mechanical stimulation of the digits of both hands (including CRPS-affected and non-affected sides) between 13 CRPS patients and 13 matched healthy controls. During a task to discriminate the digit simulated, patients (compared to controls) had significantly lower accuracy and slowed response times but with high between-subject variability. At middle latencies (124-132ms), tactile processing in patients relative to controls showed decrements in superior parietal lobe and precuneus (that were independent of task demands) but enhanced activity in superior frontal lobe (that were task-dependent). At late latencies, patients showed an augmented P300-like response under task demands that localised to supplementary motor area (SMA). Source activity in SMA correlated with slowed response times, while its scalp representation intriguingly correlated with better functioning of the affected limb, suggesting a compensatory mechanism. We present evidence of altered but highly variable cognitive processing (124 – 268ms latency) in response to mechanical tactile stimuli in patients with CRPS compared to healthy controls. Such mid-to-late latency responses could potentially provide convenient and robust biomarkers of abnormal perceptual decision-making mechanisms in CRPS to aid in clinical detection and treatment. Future research should investigate the clinical utility of these putative markers of tactile decision-making mechanisms in CRPS.Disclosures The research was supported by funding from Cambridge Arthritis Research Endeavour (CARE). The study was sponsored by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and supported by its Rheumatology department. The authors report no conflicts of interest.