(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Many of the estimated four million or more Americans living with the widespread pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia struggle to get a diagnosis and effective treatment. Because lab tests often appear normal in these patients, doctors must rely on patients’ symptoms, results from physical exams and the exclusion of other diseases to come to a fibromyalgia diagnosis. Now, researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finally have biologic evidence of the disease through a new experimental testing method that can quickly and accurately diagnose fibromyalgia, while differentiating it from other chronic pain conditions.
Future research will validate the test further and hopefully lead to a widely available blood test that can be used in doctors’ offices so that patients can receive a diagnosis in minutes with just a finger prick. Identifying these biological characteristics may also help experts develop novel therapies to treat fibromyalgia.
Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have developed a blood test to identify fibromyalgia. The diagnostic tool measures metabolic activity in the blood, distinguishing fibromyalgia from other chronic pain conditions with near 100 percent accuracy.
Dr. Kevin Hackshaw examines fibromyalgia patient, Barb Hartong, at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. A new laboratory test may provide biological characteristics to help guide personalized treatment plans to relieve fibromyalgia pain.
Ohio State’s food science lab processes a blood sample from a patient with chronic pain. Researchers have developed the first experimental test to biologically identify fibromyalgia, differentiating it from other conditions like lupus and arthritis.
Barb Hartong (left) does water aerobics to manage pain caused by fibromyalgia, a condition that is often difficult to accurately diagnose and effectively treat.
Barb Hartong manages her fibromyalgia with medication as well as plenty of exercise. Finding the right combination to manage daily pain can be a long road, but a new blood test may soon provide the details to better direct effective treatments.