Kaundinya Gopinath1,2, Lisa Butler1,
Binod Thapa-Chhetry1, Aman Goyal1, Parina Gandhi1,
Yan Fang1, Luo Ouyang1, Sandeep Ganji1, Lei
Jiang1, Saurabh Vaidya1, David Buhner2,
Wendy Ringe3, Richard Briggs1,2, Robert Haley2
1Department of Radiology,
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 2Department
of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United
States; 3Department of Psychiatry, UT Southwestern Medical Center,
Dallas, TX, United States
Previous studies have shown higher cooling and warming thresholds in hands and feet of Gulf War Illness (GWI) veterans. In this study, brain activation to innocuous and noxious heat stimuli was measured with a quantitative sensory testing (QST) fMRI paradigm, in GWI veterans with Syndromes1 (Syn1), Syn2 and Syn3, as well as age-matched controls. Syn1 and Syn3 groups exhibited significantly decreased brain activation during innocuous heat compared to controls. Further all three groups, Syn1, Syn2 and Syn3 exhibited decreased activation to noxious heat in a number of pain processing areas. The results indicate deficits in central sensory processing in GWI.