Altered resting-state brain activity in functional dyspepsia patients: a coordinate-based meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Gastroenterology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Functional dyspepsia (FD) is characterized by unexplained upper abdominal discomfort.
• Previous neuroimaging studies show inconsistent findings regarding brain activity in FD patients.
• The neuropathological basis of FD remains unclear.

Approach:

• Systematic literature search of eight databases (inception-October 2022) using keywords 'Functional dyspepsia' and 'Neuroimaging'.
• Meta-analysis of aberrant brain activity patterns in FD patients using the anisotropic effect size signed the differential mapping (AES-SDM) approach.
• Inclusion of 11 studies comprising 260 FD patients and 202 healthy controls (HCs).

Key Points:

• FD patients showed increased activity in the bilateral insula, left anterior cingulate gyrus, bilateral thalamus, right precentral gyrus, left supplementary motor area, right putamen, and left rectus gyrus.
• FD patients exhibited decreased functional activity in the right cerebellum compared to HCs.
• Sensitivity analysis confirmed the reproducibility of findings and detected no significant publication bias.

Conclusions:

• FD patients display significantly abnormal brain activity patterns in regions crucial for visceral sensation, pain modulation, and emotion regulation.
• This meta-analysis offers integrated insights into the neuropathological characteristics of functional dyspepsia.
• Findings highlight the role of central nervous system dysfunction in the pathophysiology of FD.