Cortical Signatures in Pain Conditions

Discrete pain processing pathways are regulated differentially according to the cognitive status of the individual. In this refresher course the neuroanatomical framework by which distinct aspects of nociception are subserved will be discussed. Investigating the engagement of specific systems by environmental or affective drivers has the potential to reveal pre-loading vulnerabilities to the development of chronic pain as well as novel biomarkers for specific clinical pain phenotypes.

Presentations

Time
8:30am EDT–12:00pm EDT	A Novel Cortical Biomarker Signature for Predicting Pain Sensitivity Categories: Refresher Course Presented By: Prof. David A. Seminowicz We have shown that peak alpha frequency (PAF) is a simple and reliable metric of pain sensitivity across multiple pain models and time-scales. The speaker will describe ongoing studies of the mechanisms of PAF, including further analysis of the alpha spectrum data, and the use of simultaneous EEG-fMRI. The talk will conclude with new data from a large-scale validation study as well as several findings demonstrating the clinical utility of PAF.
8:30am EDT–12:00pm EDT	Neurophysiological Correlates of Acute and Chronic Pain Categories: Refresher Course Presented By: Prof. Markus Ploner The presentation will provide an up-to-date overview of the neurophysiological correlates of acute and chronic pain in humans. The presentation will particularly summarize how brain rhythms and brain communication shape the experience of pain in health and disease.
8:30am EDT–12:00pm EDT	Progression of Cortical Manifestations in Clinical and Experimental Pain Categories: Refresher Course Presented By: Prof. Thomas Graven-Nielsen Sensory and motor dysfunctions are common features of chronic musculoskeletal pain but still the mechanisms are poorly understood, and available treatments are largely ineffective. Accumulated findings indicate that the sensorimotor system undergoes neuroplastic change in the presence of musculoskeletal pain. In humans such changes may manifest as widespread pain and hyperalgesia, facilitated central pain mechanisms and reorganisation of sensorimotor control at spinal and cortical levels. The mechanistic progression from acute to more persistent pain is still unclear. Experimental protocols available to study how the sensorimotor system changes over several days with experimental pain in healthy subjects will be presented as well as how the somatosensory cortical system is affected in parallel with psychophysical effects.
8:30am EDT–12:00pm EDT	The Dynamic Pain Connectome Categories: Refresher Course Presented By: Dr. Karen D. Davis This talk will provide an overview of the dynamic pain connectome. This concept arose from behavioural and brain imaging studies in the Davis lab that examined individual differences in how people tend to attend to pain vs mind-wander away from pain, as reflected by a metric and behavioural phenotype we call intrinsic attention to pain (IAP). I will also review how this relates to another behavioural phenotype (A/P types) that is based on how an individual balances the attentional demands of a cognitive task with a painful stimulus. I will also discuss sex differences in the dynamic pain connectome as well as the challenges and potential new approaches to studies of IAP and A/P phenotypes in people with chronic pain.