Neuroimaging predictors of RA fatigue
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing a neuroimaging model of Rheumatoid Arthritis related fatigue
IRAS ID
203176
Contact name
Maria Goni
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Fatigue experienced by patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has a significant effect on their lives. However, few therapies exist to help reduce its effects. Currently doctors have a poor understanding of the symptom's underlying causes and there are no simple objective ways to measure its severity. This means it is difficult to develop new medicines to treat fatigue.
We were the first to look at how changes in brain shape and function using MRI scans are related to fatigue in patients with rheumatoid patients. We were able to identify some specific differences in patients with fatigue compared to people without fatigue. We call these specific changes a brain marker of fatigue.
Now it is important to find out more about these changes. This can be best done by testing these specific changes in a group of RA patients before and after a treatment that has been shown to reduce fatigue. The British Society of Rheumatology’s Biologics Register (BSRBR) shows that more than 2/3 of RA patients who receive anti-TNF therapy experienced important improvements in their levels of fatigue. We identified a set of predictors of fatigue which will help in the selection criteria of patients in our current study.
Therefore, by taking MRI scans of those patients before and after their anti-TNF treatment, we will be able to test the usefulness of our previously identified markers of fatigue to predict the response to the therapy.
These outcomes will not only help us understand the mechanisms of fatigue, but will help us measure fatigue severity more accurately and will help in the selection of patients who are most likely to benefit from these fatigue alleviating drugs. Furthermore, since similarities in markers of fatigue have already been seen in other inflammatory disorders, these markers could be used with other common chronic inflammatory diseases.REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0468
Date of REC Opinion
18 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion