People with fibromyalgia have an increased frequency of their rhythmic brain waves in areas linked to pain modulation, which correlate with pain severity. The study, published in the journal, adds to the evidence of abnormal brain processing of sensory signals in fibromyalgia, indicating that interventions that regulate the rhythmicity of these neural signals might ease pain in fibromyalgia patients. Recent research has suggested disrupted rhythms exist in neural networks connecting the thalamus — a brain region processing pain and sensory signals — and the cortex, the receiver of those signals. Such rhythmic patterns, called neural oscillations and classified according to their frequency, are crucial for numerous brain functions, and disturbed rhythm has been described also in other disease states. The study, performed by researchers at the Seoul National University College of Medicine , South Korea, analyzed brain waves in 18 women with fibromyalgia and 18 healthy controls of the same age and sex, using recordings of spontaneous activity by magnetoencephalography. Analysis found that patients had increased power, or amplitude, of three types of oscillations, termed theta, beta and gamma, and a slowing of a fourth, known as the alpha peak. Combining the analysis with magnetic resonance imaging, the study, " Increased Low- and High-Frequency Oscillatory Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex of Fibromyalgia Patients ," could localize the disturbances to specifi