Fibromyalgia (FM): The Effectiveness of the "Perrotta Fibromyalgia Protocol" (PF-p) and the New Possible Etiology of the Clinical Condition. A Pilot Study

Introduction: Fibromyalgia is considered to be a multifactorial idiopathic disease with a strong psychological impact, and no structured protocol is currently able to organize the clinical investigation of the patient, outside of the patient's history, without incurring diagnostic errors. Objective: The effectiveness of the "Perrotta Fibromyalgia Protocol" (PF-p) is under discussion for the functional diagnosis of patients with fibromyalgia. Materials and methods: A population sample was selected for the pilot study, which was administered a clinical interview based on narrative-anamnestic and documentary evidence, including key inflammatory indices and Section A of the Perrotta Integrative Clinical Interviews (PICI-3TA), investigating dysfunctional personality traits. Blood investigations needed to complete the individual profile were then performed. Finally, blood indices were repeated after 6 months to evaluate the effectiveness of the protocol used (PF-p). Results: Preliminary results of clinical interviews and clinical data would suggest that the diagnostic framing might be contaminated by diagnostic errors, partly due to the framing of all clinical symptoms stated by the patients in the selected population sample (n = 48, M = 36.9, SD = 12.6). Blood results confirm the organic inflammatory state. The use of the PF-p, 6 months after the first instrumental verification, shows a marked and significant alleviation of symptoms in 72.9% of cases (35/48) and complete resolution in 27.1% of cases (13/48). Conclusions: Fibromyalgia could be considered a polysymptomatic condition (and not an independent disorder or disease) resulting from an active systemic inflammatory state capable of interfering with normal organic functioning, capable of altering one or more biological functions.