Preliminary MRI study reports lower estimated brain-clearance function in ME/CFS

Signs of lower estimated function in the right hemisphere

Researchers reportedly used a non-invasive MRI method to estimate glymphatic function in 31 participants with ME/CFS and 27 healthy controls. The article says the ME/CFS group showed signs of reduced estimated function in the right, but not left, brain hemisphere; stronger signs were correlated with worse sleep problems and impaired concentration.

The available article does not provide a comparable earlier MRI measurement for these participants. It describes this as the first study to investigate an ME/CFS link with the glymphatic system.

A preliminary MRI comparison has reportedly added reduced estimated glymphatic function—especially in the right hemisphere—as a possible research lead in ME/CFS. The indirect measure cannot establish why it occurs or prove that it causes symptoms.

Indirect MRI measures and causal limits

The finding offers a possible biological mechanism to investigate for ME/CFS, a condition whose cause remains unknown. However, the MRI measure is indirect, and the study does not show that glymphatic dysfunction drives ME/CFS symptoms.