Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42348988›Full record

ArticleNeuroImage. Clinical2026

Structural brain alterations in chronic primary pain: a multimodal MRI study.

Salome Häuselmann, Anna Wyss, Nina Bischoff, Rupert Bruckmaier, Josef Gross, Chantal Berna, Martin Grosse Holtforth, Selma Aybek, Nicolas Gninenko

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Salome HäuselmannPsychosomatic Medicine, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Switzerland; Graduate School of Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB), University of Bern, Switzerland; Translational Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: salome.haeuselmann@gmail.com.
Anna WyssPsychosomatic Medicine, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Switzerland; Translational Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland.
Nina BischoffPsychosomatic Medicine, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Rupert BruckmaierVeterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Josef GrossVeterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Chantal BernaCenter for Integrative and Complementary Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.
Martin Grosse HoltforthPsychosomatic Medicine, Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Selma AybekDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Nicolas GninenkoDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Chronic primary pain (CPP) occurs without an identifiable causal disease and is characterized by persistent pain, emotional distress and functional impairment. Persistent pain may be accompanied by structural brain alterations linked to chronification. We investigated cortical surface morphometry and structural connectivity in CPP and explored associations with related biopsychosocial characteristics. Thirty patients with CPP and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent psychometric assessment, pain sensitivity testing, salivary sampling (cortisol, α-amylase), and MRI (T1-weighted, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)). Surface-based morphometry features (SBM) were estimated from T1-weighted data across multiple brain parcellations. DWI was used to reconstruct weighted structural connectomes via probabilistic tractography and to compute node-level graph-theoretical metrics. Partial least squares correlation (PLSC) assessed multivariate associations between imaging metrics and biopsychosocial characteristics. Compared with HCs, CPP patients showed focal cortical alterations dominated by folding-related features consistent across different brain parcellation schemes: increased gyrification in left prefrontal regions; reduced sulcal depth in right lateral frontal and orbitofrontal and right medial temporo-occipital regions; and reduced fractal dimension in posterior cingulate regions. Structural connectivity metrics showed only trend-level group differences that did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. PLSC revealed significant covariation between distributed SBM patterns and biopsychosocial characteristics, including perceived stress, childhood trauma, and α-amylase concentration, mainly expressed in HCs, linking stress-related features to profiles of gyrification, sulcal depth, and fractal dimension. These findings suggest that cortical surface morphology may be structurally altered in patients with CPP and encourage further longitudinal studies.

Indexed as

Chronic primary painCortical thicknessFractal dimensionGyrificationStructural connectivitySulcal depthSurface-based morphometry

Identifiers

PMID42348988
PMCPMC13320504

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.