Jiabao He1, Julia L. Newton2, Andrew M. Blamire1
1Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom; 2Institue for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is associated with cognitive problem and autonomic dysfunction, where the patient shows abnormal responses to autonomic challenge such as the Valsalva manoeuvre (VM). Valsalva manoeuvre provokes phased physiological response in blood pressure and cerebral blood flow, resulting in a complex cerebral response.In this work, we conducted dual echo GE fMRI to monitor the tissue water density and cerebral oxygenation level during the VM in CFS patients, and found that the BOLD signal dynamics correlated to measures of autonomic activity. Different components of cerebral reponses are related to various aspects of autonomic control.