Gray matter alteration associated with pain catastrophizing in patients 6 months after lumbar disk surgery: a voxel-based morphometry study

Introduction Pain catastrophizing (PC), the increased attention to harmful aspects of pain (magnification), and the belief of low controllability (helplessness) has been shown to be important in the maintenance of pain. A growing research on structural alterations in chronic pain revealed an association between PC and brain areas that are involved in affective and cognitive pain processing. However, little is known about a differential effect of the components magnification and helplessness. Objective The aim of this study was to identify brain regions associated with overall PC and with the single components of magnification and helplessness. Methods We investigated 29 patients 6 months after lumbar disk surgery using voxel-based morphometry. Magnification and helplessness were assessed with subscales of the Avoidance-Endurance Questionnaire (AEQ); overall PC was computed using the sum score. The structural brain imaging data were preprocessed and analyzed using SPM8 and VBM8. Multiple regression analyses were performed with PC scales as predictors and depression as covariate. Results Pain catastrophizing was significantly associated with cortical gray matter in brain areas involved in processing attentional, sensory, and affective aspects of pain, including the left posterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and medial frontal gyrus. In addition, we provide preliminary evidence for brain structure association related to magnification and helplessness. Conclusion This study provides evidence for PC-related structural alterations in patients with low back pain, which are consistent with findings from previous research in different chronic pain disorders. This study is the first to evaluate brain changes related to differential domains of PC.