Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026
Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Analysis of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Published on: July 28, 2013
Microstructural white matter impairments in chronic fatigue syndrome: Evidence of segmental injury in the cingulum
Kang Wu1, Ziyao Wu2, Sitong Feng2
1Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100088, China; Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China; Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100801, China.
Background:
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a neurological disorder characterized by persistent fatigue. Previous studies have shown structural and functional brain alterations in CFS patients. However, how chronic fatigue affects white matter remains unclear.
Methods:
We recruited 100 CFS patients and 100 healthy controls (HCs) and collected their diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) data along with fatigue severity scores. Group comparisons were conducted using 87 white matter tract templates derived from 1068 healthy individuals to identify impaired tracts. Fiber bundle quantitative analysis was then applied to localize segmental disruptions. Furthermore, a machine learning model was developed to evaluate the importance of the identified tracts in diagnosing CFS, and treatment efficacy analysis was performed to examine the causal relationship between recovery of fiber bundle structure and improvement in fatigue symptoms.
Results:
Compared with HCs, CFS patients exhibited reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left cingulum parolfactory tract and the left cingulum frontal-parahippocampal tract. The quantitative analysis indicated that disruptions in these two tracts were localized to the middle-posterior portion of the cingulum bundle. Moreover, FA values of the two tracts yielded 85 % accuracy in distinguishing CFS patients, and causal analysis demonstrated that recovery of these segmentally disrupted tracts was associated with improvements in fatigue symptoms.
Conclusions:
This large-sample study provides comprehensive insights into microstructural impairments induced by chronic fatigue and highlights the critical role of the cingulum bundle in the pathological mechanisms of CFS, thereby advancing our understanding of CFS.
