Resting-state functional brain alterations in functional dyspepsia: Protocol for a systematic review and voxel-based meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and significantly influences patients’ quality of life. Many studies have found that patients with FD show significant functional abnormalities in multiple brain regions. However, these functional cerebral abnormalities are not fully consistent. This protocol aims to qualitatively and quantitatively assess and synthesize the functional cerebral abnormalities found in FD. METHODS: A systematic search will be conducted in 4 electronic databases (Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library) from inception to June 30, 2019, with the language restricted to English. Study selection will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Quality assessment will be performed with a custom 11-point checklist. The functional changes in brain regions and the correlations between these altered brain regions and clinical variables in patients with FD will be evaluated through qualitative review. If data are available, an Anisotropic Effect Size version of Signed Differential Mapping (AES-SDM) will be used to synthesize the brain functional alterations and clinical variables in patients with FD. RESULTS: This review and meta-analysis will qualitatively and quantitatively assess and synthesize functional cerebral abnormalities consistently found in FD. CONCLUSION: This may assist in mapping functional brain abnormalities to characterize imaging-based neural markers of FD and improve our knowledge of the pathogenesis of FD. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019134983 (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/)