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Breast cancer survivors living with chronic neuropathic pain show improved brain health following mindfulness-based stress reduction: a preliminary diffusion tensor imaging study

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study explores the benefits of an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program to white matter integrity among breast cancer survivors experiencing chronic neuropathic pain (CNP).

Methods

Twenty-three women were randomly assigned to either a MBSR treatment group (n = 13) or a waitlist control group (n = 10). Participants were imaged with MRI prior to and post-MBSR training using diffusion tensor imaging.

Results

Compared with controls, the MBSR group showed a significant increase in fractional anisotropy (FA), particularly in the left subcortical regions including the uncinate fasciculus, amygdala, and hippocampus, as well as in the external capsule and in the left sagittal stratum. No decreases to FA were found in any brain regions following MBSR training. The FA values also negatively correlated with the pain severity and pain interference scores from the BRIEF pain questionnaire.

Conclusions

The present findings demonstrate that MBSR training may enhance the integrity of cerebral white matter that coincides with a reduction in pain perception. Further research with a larger sample size is required.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

This study highlights the potential for MBSR, as a non-pharmacological intervention, to provide both brain health improvement and pain perception relief for female breast cancer survivors experiencing CNP.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge and thank the MRI technologists from the Ottawa Hospital and the group leaders for the MBSR groups. Additionally, thanks and gratitude are given to Jason Berard and Aziza Byron-Alhassan for providing additional support in coordinating and facilitating the neuroimaging sessions.

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine,, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Ola Mioduszewski, Taylor Hatchard, Zhuo Fang, Patricia Poulin & Andra M. Smith

  2. Youth Wellness Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, Canada

    Taylor Hatchard, Eve-Ling Khoo, Heather Romanow, Yaad Shergill, Emily Tennant, Maiko A. Schneider & Nikisha Browne

  3. The Ottawa Research Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada

    Patricia Poulin

  4. Department of Psychology, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Canada

    Patricia Poulin

  5. School of Rehabilitation, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

    Eve-Ling Khoo

Authors
  1. Ola Mioduszewski
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  2. Taylor Hatchard
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  3. Zhuo Fang
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  4. Patricia Poulin
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  5. Eve-Ling Khoo
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  6. Heather Romanow
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  7. Yaad Shergill
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  8. Emily Tennant
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  9. Maiko A. Schneider
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  10. Nikisha Browne
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  11. Andra M. Smith
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Contributions

O Mioduszewski: investigation, data curation, writing—original draft. T Hatchard: investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Z Fang: formal analysis, resources, visualization, writing—review and editing. P Poulin: conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing-reviewing and editing, supervision. EL Khoo: project administration, investigation, resources, data curation. H Romanow: investigation, resources, data curation. Y Shergill: investigation, resources, data curation. E Tennant: investigation, resources, data curation. MA Schneider: writing—review, and editing. N Browne: writing—original draft preparation. A Smith: conceptualization, supervision, resources, funding acquisition, writing-reviewing and editing, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, visualization

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andra M. Smith.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committees and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Highlights

Chronic neuropathic pain may be reduced in breast cancer survivors by MBSR.

MBSR may enhance white matter in breast cancer survivors with neuropathic pain.

Sagittal stratum showed the largest improvement, correlating negatively with pain.

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Mioduszewski, O., Hatchard, T., Fang, Z. et al. Breast cancer survivors living with chronic neuropathic pain show improved brain health following mindfulness-based stress reduction: a preliminary diffusion tensor imaging study. J Cancer Surviv 14, 915–922 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-020-00903-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-020-00903-w

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