Fibromyalgia position paper
Piercarlo Sarzi‐Puttini, Valeria Giorgi, Fabiola Atzeni, Roberto Gorla, Eva Kosek, Ernest Choy, Laura Bazzichi, Winfried Häuser, Jacob N. Ablin, Valerie Aloush, Dan Buskila, Howard Amital, José António Pereira da Silva, Serge Perrot, Bart Morlion, Enrico Polati, Vittorio Schweiger, Stefano Coaccioli, Giustino Varrassi, Manuela Di Franco, Riccardo Torta, Karin Maria Øien Forseth, Kaisa Mannerkorpi, Fausto Salaffi, Marco Di Carlo, G. Cassisi, Alberto Batticciotto
Abstract
Fibromyalgia syndrome is one of the most common causes of chronic widespread pain, but pain accompanies a wide range of ancillary symptoms. To date, its aetiopathogenesis remains elusive, and diagnosis is exquisitely clinical, due to the lack of biomarkers or specific laboratory alterations in fibromyalgia patients. This position paper has the purpose to summarise the current scientific knowledge and expert opinions about the main controversies regarding fibromyalgia syndrome, namely: (i) fibromyalgia definition and why it is still not recognised in many countries as a distinct clinical entity; (ii) fibromyalgia severity and how to evaluate treatment outcome; (iii) how to treat fibromyalgia and which is a correct approach to fibromyalgia patients.