1) Understand the challenges of current conventional imaging approaches in diagnosing peripheral pain generators. 2) Understand the basis for identifying specific molecular and cellular biomarkers of pain and how these biomarkers can be exploited with molecular and cellular imaging techniques. 3) Demonstrate both clinical and pre-clinical PET/MR or advanced MRI approaches in identifying pain generators.
Chronic pain is now the prevalent disease in the world. The chronic pain sufferer is currently faced with a lack of objective tools to identify the source of their pain. The goal of this session is to describe new clinical molecular imaging and emerging molecular/cellular imaging methods to more accurately localize chronic pain generators/drivers so that we may objectively identify and more intelligently act upon the cause in a pain sufferer. Successful imaging of pain is relying heavily upon a multidisciplinary effort that include expertise from of a number of scientists and clinicians in the fields of synthetic chemistry, radiochemistry, magnetic resonance physics/engineering, molecular pain neurobiology, clinical pain, radiology and others.
A number of clinical and emerging pre-clinical approaches in positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will be described. These imaging methods will demonstrate how the site of increased nociceptive activity is highlighted in the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord.
Biswal, S,
PET and MR Methods to Image Pain. Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL.
http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14001180.html
