Objectives

The present study aimed to investigate the impact of an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on emotional reactivity among a sample of breast cancer survivors with chronic neuropathic pain (CNP).

Methods

Twenty-one women were randomly assigned to a MBSR treatment group (n = 11) or a waitlist control group (n = 10) following medical review. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants were imaged before and after the MBSR program while completing the emotional Stroop task as a measure of emotional reactivity.

Results

The treatment group showed significantly less blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) activity post-MBSR across several brain regions involved in pain processing and visual attention. This included regions in the left somatosensory cortex, left precuneus, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Although emotional reactivity was the primary outcome, pain severity and interference from the Brief Pain Inventory were also assessed at both time points. Pain interference was significantly reduced following MBSR for the intervention group only.

Conclusions

These preliminary findings show that MBSR training has a marked impact on neural correlates of pain processing and attention, lending support to MBSR as a viable adjunctive treatment option for breast cancer survivors living with CNP. However, further research, with a larger sample size, is warranted.

中文翻译：

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以正念为基础的压力减轻（MBSR）后患有慢性神经性疼痛的乳腺癌幸存者的情绪反应性降低：fMRI试点研究

目标

本研究旨在调查基于8周正念的压力减轻（MBSR）程序对患有慢性神经性疼痛（CNP）的乳腺癌幸存者样本中情绪反应的影响。

方法

 在医学检查后，将21名妇女随机分配至MBSR治疗组（n  = 11）或候补对照组（n = 10）。使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI），在完成情感Stroop任务以衡量情绪反应性的同时，在MBSR程序之前和之后对参与者进行成像。

结果

在MBSR之后，治疗组在涉及疼痛处理和视觉注意的多个大脑区域显示出显着降低的血氧水平依赖性（BOLD）活动。这包括左体感皮层，左前突和左前外侧前额叶皮层中的区域。尽管情绪反应是主要结果，但在两个时间点都评估了疼痛的严重程度和简短疼痛量表的干扰。仅在干预组进行MBSR后，疼痛干扰显着降低。

结论

这些初步发现表明，MBSR训练对疼痛处理和注意力的神经相关性有显着影响，从而支持MBSR作为活用CNP的乳腺癌幸存者的可行辅助治疗选择。但是，需要进行更大的样本量的进一步研究。