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Neuronal Signatures of Pain in the Rehabilitation Patient

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Comprehensive Pain Management in the Rehabilitation Patient

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Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests chronic pain is a neurological disease that requires a unique set of diagnostic and therapeutic protocols. While much emphasis has been placed on therapy, advances in diagnostic methods have received comparatively little attention. This chapter discusses the structural and functional changes in the brain associated with chronic pain, arguing such changes constitute neuronal signatures that could potentially lead to objective diagnostics, while respecting the subjective pain report by the patient. This chapter reviews morphometric, functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological data that correlate with the presence, severity, and duration of chronic pain, while highlighting quantitative data analysis methods such as frequency domains analysis of EEG and machine learning. Limitations and future directions leading to the development of objective diagnostics for pain are also discussed.

“To have pain is to have certainty; to hear about pain is to have doubt.”

—Elaine Scarry, in The Body in Pain

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Acknowledgment

C.S. was funded by investigator-initiated grants from Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. and Boston Scientific. Authors have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesia, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room H3580, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    Theresa R. Lii M.D.

  2. Department of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy Street, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Carl Y. Saab M.S., Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Theresa R. Lii M.D.
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  2. Carl Y. Saab M.S., Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carl Y. Saab M.S., Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Brown University, Warren Alpert Medical School, Providence, USA

    Alexios Carayannopoulos DO, MPH

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Lii, T.R., Saab, C.Y. (2017). Neuronal Signatures of Pain in the Rehabilitation Patient. In: Carayannopoulos DO, MPH, A. (eds) Comprehensive Pain Management in the Rehabilitation Patient. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16784-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16784-8_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16783-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16784-8

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