Title:Current Concepts of Pain Pathways: A Brief Review of Anatomy, Physiology,
and Medical Imaging
Volume: 20
Author(s): Daisy-Carolina Gonzalez-Hermosillo, Leslie-Marisol Gonzalez-Hermosillo, Moises Villaseñor-Almaraz, Daniel Ballesteros-Herrera, Sergio Moreno-Jimenez, Roberto Corona-Cedillo, Francisco Velasco-Campos, Jose-Damian Carrillo-Ruiz and Ernesto Roldan-Valadez*
Affiliation:
- Directorate of Research, Hospital General de Mexico 'Dr. Eduardo Liceaga', Mexico City, Mexico
- I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Department of Radiology, Moscow, Russia
Keywords:
Nociceptive pathways, Pain central nervous system anatomy, Surgical pain approaches, Magnetic resonance imaging, Pain therapies, Neuroimaging modalities.
Abstract:
Background:
Although the essential components of pain pathways have been identified, a thorough comprehension of the interactions necessary for creating
focused treatments is still lacking. Such include more standardised methods for measuring pain in clinical and preclinical studies and more
representative study populations.
Objective:
This review describes the essential neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of pain nociception and its relation with currently available neuroimaging
methods focused on health professionals responsible for treating pain.
Methods:
Conduct a PubMed search of pain pathways using pain-related search terms, selecting the most relevant and updated information.
Results:
Current reviews of pain highlight the importance of their study in different areas from the cellular level, pain types, neuronal plasticity, ascending,
descending, and integration pathways to their clinical evaluation and neuroimaging. Advanced neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI, PET, and
MEG are used to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying pain processing and identify potential targets for pain therapy.
Conclusion:
The study of pain pathways and neuroimaging methods allows physicians to evaluate and facilitate decision-making related to the pathologies that
cause chronic pain. Some identifiable issues include a better understanding of the relationship between pain and mental health, developing more
effective interventions for chronic pain's psychological and emotional aspects, and better integrating data from different neuroimaging modalities
for the clinical efficacy of new pain therapies.
