Pediatric Neural Changes to Physical and Emotional Pain After Intensive Interdisciplinary Pain Treatment: A Pilot Study.

ABSTRACT: Brain areas activated during pain can contribute to enhancing or reducing the pain experience, showing a potential connection between chronic pain and the neural response to pain in adolescents and youth. This study examined changes in brain activation associated with experiencing physical pain, and the observation of physical and emotional pain in others, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT). Eighteen youth (age 14 to 18) with widespread chronic pain completed fMRI testing before and after IIPT to assess changes in brain activation in response to physical and emotional pain. Broadly, brain activation changes were observed in frontal, somatosensory, and limbic regions. These changes suggest improvements in

SUBMITTER: Lepping RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10593005 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature