Tissue pathology of CFS/ME -Dr A Chaudhuri

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Tissue pathology of CFS/ME

Dr Abhijit Chaudhuri is a consultant neurologist in ME

at the Essex Centre of Neurological Sciences and

works with Harrower, T and O'Donovan, D at Queen's

Hospital London.

Because a disease can be defined by its pathology

looking at tissue will determine if there is evidence

of something being different from controls of normal

patients.

He examines the pathology of people with ME post

mortem. Frustrations are encountered from his

exciting research in that he is unable to publish

photos of what he has found without permission of

subjects due to tissue archival law.

He was able to investigate relevant tissue from the

first person to die from ME, and find both

inflammation and cell death in Sophia Mirza's brain

and spinal fluid.

Chaudhuri explains that intervention can be different

depending on the stage of the disease (Invest in ME

Conference, 2007). His research into the spinal cord

of pwme has shown increased levels of Corpora

Amylacea. Their function is to dispose of products of

stressful metabolic events throughout life and they

are not found in normal patients under 40. They are

found however in patients under 40 with Downs

Syndrome.

He details that there is not a specific pathological

signature but changes he has observed so far

represent two ends of a spectrum. He is quite clear

that the observed pathological changes are well

recognised in neurological disorders but not present

in psychiatric conditions so the case to support the

WHO classification of ME as a neurological condition

is correct.

There are demonstrable pathological changes in the

brain and spinal cord. Further investigations into the

spine and brain of pwme post mortem would provide

further evidence. Chaudhuri is working to develop an

autopsy protocol that would allow for further

investigation of pwme who have died.