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Published in:

01-04-2010

Unravelling the Mystery of Pain, Suffering, and Relief With Brain Imaging

Authors: Michael C. Lee, Irene Tracey

Published in: Current Pain and Headache Reports | Issue 2/2010

Abstract

In humans, the experience of pain and suffering is conveyed specifically by language. Noninvasive neuroimaging techniques now provide an account of neural activity in the human brain when pain is experienced. Knowledge gleaned from neuroimaging experiments has shaped contemporaneous accounts of pain. Within the biopsychosocial framework, nociception is undoubtedly required for survival, but is neither necessary nor sufficient for the consciousness of pain in humans. Pain emerges from the brain, which also exerts a top-down influence on nociception. In the brains of patients with chronic pain, neuroimaging has revealed subtle but significant structural, functional, and neurochemical abnormalities. Converging evidence suggests that the chronic pain state may arise from dysfunction of the frontal-limbic system. Further research in the clinical pain population will continue to identify neural mechanisms that contribute to the experience and consequence of pain, which may then be targeted therapeutically.

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Title: Unravelling the Mystery of Pain, Suffering, and Relief With Brain Imaging
Authors: Michael C. Lee
Irene Tracey
Publication date: 01-04-2010
Publisher: Current Science Inc.
Published in: Current Pain and Headache Reports / Issue 2/2010
Print ISSN: 1531-3433
Electronic ISSN: 1534-3081
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-010-0103-0

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Unravelling the Mystery of Pain, Suffering, and Relief With Brain Imaging

Abstract

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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