[The first Swedish national care program for pediatric chronic pain].

Pediatric chronic pain is common and frequently results in reduced wellbeing and functioning. Limited knowledge among health care professionals has motivated a national care program for pediatric chronic pain to increase the standard of care for this group. Emphasizing a biopsychosocial approach, treatment should focus on self-management of pain and distress to increase resilience, functioning and wellbeing.

Altered Structural Covariance of Insula, Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex Is Associated with Somatic Symptom Levels in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

Somatization, defined as the presence of multiple somatic symptoms, frequently occurs in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and may constitute the clinical manifestation of a neurobiological sensitization process. Brain imaging data was acquired with T1 weighted 3 tesla MRI, and gray matter morphometry were analyzed using FreeSurfer. We investigated differences in networks of structural covariance, based on graph analysis, between regional gray matter volumes in IBS-related brain regions between IBS patients with high and low somatization levels, and compared them to healthy controls (HCs).

Central sensitization and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain syndromes, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: Central sensitization has been suggested as an explanation of the wide range of gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms commonly seen in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In this study, the presence and level of central sensitization, and its association to gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms were explored in IBS in comparison with control groups.

Methods: We investigated patients with IBS (n = 215), chronic pain disorders (n = 36), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (n = 40) and volunteers without chronic diseases (n = 112).

Association between pain sensitivity and gray matter properties in the sensorimotor network in women with irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: Enhanced perception of visceral stimuli is an important feature of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but it is not known whether visceral sensitivity is associated with regional structural brain properties in IBS.

Methods: Structural brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 216 women with IBS and 138 healthy women were parcellated with FreeSurfer to define regional gray matter morphometry (volume, cortical thickness, surface area and mean curvature) in the sensorimotor network. General linear models were used to detect group differences between IBS and health.

Resting state functional connectivity of the pain matrix and default mode network in irritable bowel syndrome: a graph theoretical analysis.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of brain-gut interactions. Differential brain responses to rectal distention between IBS and healthy controls (HCs) have been demonstrated, particularly in the pain matrix and the default mode network. This study aims to compare resting-state functional properties of these networks between IBS patients and HCs using graph analysis in two independent cohorts.

Evidence for an association of gut microbial Clostridia with brain functional connectivity and gastrointestinal sensorimotor function in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, based on tripartite network analysis.

Background And Aims: Evidence from preclinical and clinical studies suggests that interactions among the brain, gut, and microbiota may affect the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). As disruptions in central and peripheral serotonergic signaling pathways have been found in patients with IBS, we explored the hypothesis that the abundance of serotonin-modulating microbes of the order Clostridiales is associated with functional connectivity of somatosensory brain regions and gastrointestinal (GI) sensorimotor function.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of 65 patients with IBS and 21 healthy individuals (controls) recruited from 2011 through 2013 at a secondary/tertiary care outpatient clinic in Sweden.

Relationships between psychological state, abuse, somatization and visceral pain sensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome.

Background And Objective: Psychological states may interfere with visceral sensitivity. Here we investigate associations between psychosocial factors and visceral sensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Methods: Two IBS patient cohorts (Cohort 1:  = 231, Rome II; Cohort 2:  = 141, Rome III) underwent rectal barostat testing, and completed questionnaires for anxiety, depression, somatization, and abuse.