The cerebral signature for pain perception and modulation version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The cerebral signature for pain perception and its modulation
IRAS ID
122750
Contact name
Alexander L Green
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Research summary
Our study is aimed: 1) to have a better understanding of pain mechanism in our brain: how our brain reacts to painful stimuli and produces pain perception; 2) to know how our brain relieves pain spontaneously when needed: endogenous pain modulation; 3) to detect objective brain electrical signals (“pain signature” ) that are correlated to patients’ subjective pain scales.
In-patients that come to have deep brain stimulation treatment to relieve chronic pain will be into the study. Neurosurgeons implant electrodes in the brain areas that deal with pain processing, including the sensory thalamus, brain stem and anterior cingulate cortex. Patients with deep brain stimulation treatment will stay in hospital for a week for the adjustment of the stimulation parameters to get the best effect. We will take advantage of the week to do our experiment.
We will record signals of the brain via the electrodes. To understand how our brain reacts to peripheral stimuli and produces pain perception, we use graded laser to stimulate patients’ limbs to evoke their pain symptoms. Analysing brain signals recorded during this period can help us have a better understanding of pain mechanism, and have an opportunity to find the brain signals that are correlated to pain. To study how our brain spontaneously relives pain we program a mental distraction task, a video game, to distract patients from pain. Whilst doing the task, the endogenous pain modulation would be stimulated to decrease patients’ pain We can then analyse the recording of this period to see how various brain areas interact with each other to produce pain relief.
With better understanding of pain mechanism in the brain and with the finding of objective pain signature of brain we can develop more effective treatment for chronic pain patients.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/SC/0298
Date of REC Opinion
13 Aug 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion