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Boguslaw Tomanek
Phone: 204-984-6321
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Email: Boguslaw.Tomanek@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Pain fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of pain is an area of intense international research. fMRI has shown that a number of areas of the brain are activated by painful stimulation. Determination of regions of the brain which are active in pain and how pain is perceived is extremely complex and depends on a number of factors including the type of pain, intensity, location and duration.
The Magnetic Resonance Technology Group has built an international reputation in this field in both animal and human studies. Researchers are interested in the central nervous system processing of information, including pain, which is thought to occur in the spinal cord, thalamus and cortex.
The overall objective is to use blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI and signal enhancement by extravascular water protons (SEEP) fMRI to assess both chronic and acute pain. Although a person is clearly aware when they are experiencing pain, it is not uncommon for the cause of the pain, or the physical location of its origin, to be unknown.
Similarly, pain can have a psychological instead of physical source and so can be difficult to assess or verify, and therefore difficult to treat. Pain can also have significant effects on a person's physical or mental status by interfering or interacting with other brain functions. Members of our group have recently published that specific brain regions respond less when distracted from pain.
The current focus of our research is the identification of different brain regions that are active in anticipation of pain compared to actual pain. These studies will form the basis for future projects aimed at improved diagnosis and assessment of pain and its related effects. The final goal of this work is to develop a clinical MR tool that will allow a clinician to assess whether a patient is truly experiencing pain (either intermittent acute or chronic), the likely physical origin of the pain, and whether other physical or mental symptoms being experienced by the patient can be attributed to pain, or are being exacerbated by pain.
