Imaging Pain, Relief and Perception Loss
| Dates: | 13 November 2013 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Neuroscience Research Institute |
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| Who is it for: | Adults, Alumni, Current University students, University staff |
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Host: Neuroscience Research Institute
Speaker:
Professor Irene Tracey, Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetic Science, Director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) and Head of the Nuffield Division of Anaesthetics at the University of Oxford.
About the event:
The ability to experience pain is old and shared across species. It confers an evolutionary advantage and provides a warning of harm or impending threat. This highly adaptive ‘acute pain’ can unfortunately become maladaptive and chronic that as a consequence brings tremendous suffering. Chronic pain is one of the largest medical health problems in the developed world affecting 1 in 5 adults and costing society billions of pounds per annum in care, treatment and days lost from work. Treatment is poor and many sufferers are left with unmanaged pain that significantly reduces their quality of life.
Until recently it has been difficult to obtain reliable objective information regarding the neural underpinnings of pain. It is needed as over-reliance on the verbal report and description of pain makes diagnoses and determination of treatment efficacy challenging. With the advent of functional neuroimaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) this has been made feasible. Using such noninvasive brain imaging tools we can now identify what brain regions become active during painful experiences and relate this to an individual’s specific pain experience or measure of pain relief, bringing potential diagnostic value as well as a better neuroscientific understanding of pain perception.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Michael Smith Lecture Theatre
Michael Smith Building
Manchester
