Richard Kwiatek

Dr. Richard Kwiatek, MBBS, is Rheumatologist in North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia who works with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia patients.

Notable studies

 * 2016, Progressive brain changes in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: A longitudinal MRI study"'Abstract: Purpose - To examine progressive brain changes associated with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Materials and Methods - We investigated progressive brain changes with longitudinal MRI in 15 CFS and 10 normal controls (NCs) scanned twice 6 years apart on the same 1.5 Tesla (T) scanner. MR images yielded gray matter (GM) volumes, white matter (WM) volumes, and T1‐ and T2‐weighted signal intensities (T1w and T2w). Each participant was characterized with Bell disability scores, and somatic and neurological symptom scores. We tested for differences in longitudinal changes between CFS and NC groups, inter group differences between pooled CFS and pooled NC populations, and correlations between MRI and symptom scores using voxel based morphometry. The analysis methodologies were first optimized using simulated atrophy. Results We found a significant decrease in WM volumes in the left inferior fronto‐occipital fasciculus (IFOF) in CFS while in NCs it was unchanged (family wise error adjusted cluster level P value, P FWE < 0.05). This longitudinal finding was consolidated by the group comparisons which detected significantly decreased regional WM volumes in adjacent regions (P FWE < 0.05) and decreased GM and blood volumes in contralateral regions (P FWE < 0.05). Moreover, the regional GM and WM volumes and T2w in those areas showed significant correlations with CFS symptom scores (P FWE < 0.05). Conclusion - The results suggested that CFS is associated with IFOF WM deficits which continue to deteriorate at an abnormal rate.'"
 * 2016, Regulatory T, natural killer T and γδ T cells in multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: a comparison. "'Results: We observed significant increase in Tregs in the CFS/ME group (p≤0.005) compared with the healthy controls group. Total γδ and γδ2 T cells were significantly reduced in the MS patients in comparison with the healthy controls group. Conversely, CD4+iNKT percentage of iNKT, was significantly increased in the CFS/ME group compared with healthy controls and double negative iNKT percentage of iNKT significantly decreased compared with the healthy controls group. Conclusion: This study has not identified immunological disturbances that are common in both MS and CFS/ME patients. However differential expression of cell types between the conditions investigated suggests different pathways of disease. These differences need to be explored in further studies.'"

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