Event-related fMRI of pain: entering a new era in imaging... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)
Somatosensory Systems, Pain
entering a new era in imaging pain
Davis, Karen D.1,3,4; Kwan, Chun L.1,3; Crawley, Adrian P.2; Mikulis, David J.2,3
1Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto Hospital (Western Division), Division of Neurosurgery, MP14-322, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
2Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto Hospital (Western Division), Division of Neurosurgery, MP14-322, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
3The Playfair Neuroscience Unit/The Toronto Hospital Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
4Corresponding Author and Address: Karen D. Davis, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto Hospital (Western Division), Division of Neurosurgery, MP14-322, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors thank Mr Jack Lam and Joe Cafazzo for their development and adaptations of the MRI-compatible pain rating system. This study was supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada and the Whitehall Foundation.
Website publication 22 September 1998
Received 1 July 1998; accepted 7 July 1998
Abstract
PREVIOUS imaging studies of pain used a block design of prolonged (up to 1 min) noxious stimulation that are not well tolerated and subject to temporal interactions. We describe an adaptation of event-related fMRI to study pain with short duration stimuli. Functional images were acquired with a spiral sequence on a 1.5T GE echospeed MRI system of the thalamus, anterior cingulate, insula and second somatosensory cortex during brief (1–3 s) noxious thermal stimulation of the hand of normal volunteers. An MRI-compatible computerized rating system continuously monitored subjects' pain. Brief pain-related activations were clearly identified in the cortex and thalamus with a hemodynamic delay of 3–6 s. These findings demonstrate that brief stimuli combined with on-line pain ratings can be used to study pain with fMRI.
© 1998 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.