Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.9
3.3
Journals
Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Advance in Brain Changes in Chronic Pain
share announcement

Advance in Brain Changes in Chronic Pain

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuroscience of Pain".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2022) | Viewed by 3518

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carolina Sitges

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute of Health Sciences (IUNICS), Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa), Department of Psychology, University of Balearic Islands (UIB), Cra. Valldemossa, km 7.5, 07122 Palma, Spain
Interests: chronic pain; exercise; emotion; cognition; EEG; EMG; heart rate variability; fMRI; mental health
Dr. Juan L. Terrasa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Research Institute of Health Sciences (IUNICS) and Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa), University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Palma, Spain
Interests: chronic pain; cognitive neuroscience; EEG; neuroimaging; cognitive neuropsychology; functional neuroimaging

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Chronic pain is the predominant cause of disability in industrialized countries, and generates significant public health expenditure in care and labor concepts. Several studies have shown that chronic pain leads to functional and structural brain changes that could favor its continued persistency. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the underlying brain mechanisms of chronic pain in order to develop assessment instruments and effective therapeutic interventions.

The aim of this Special Issue is to explore brain changes in chronic pain. It will address a range of work from basic to clinical research, including multiple types of manuscripts (research papers, reviews, meta-analysis, commentaries, and methodological manuscripts) focusing on the following subtopics in chronic pain: functional and structural brain changes (MRI, fMRI, EEG), neuromodulation (neurofeedback), and neurostimulation (tDCS, TMS).

Dr. Carolina Sitges
Guest Editor

Dr. Juan L. Terrasa
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • chronic pain
  • brain function
  • brain structure
  • neuromodulation
  • neurostimulation

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 1657 KiB  
Article
Anodal-TDCS over Left-DLPFC Modulates Motor Cortex Excitability in Chronic Lower Back Pain
by Emily J. Corti, An T. Nguyen, Welber Marinovic, Natalie Gasson and Andrea M. Loftus
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(12), 1654; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12121654 - 02 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1455
Abstract
Chronic pain is associated with abnormal cortical excitability and increased pain intensity. Research investigating the potential for transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate motor cortex excitability and reduce pain in individuals with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) yield mixed results. The present [...] Read more.
Chronic pain is associated with abnormal cortical excitability and increased pain intensity. Research investigating the potential for transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate motor cortex excitability and reduce pain in individuals with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) yield mixed results. The present randomised, placebo-controlled study examined the impact of anodal-tDCS over left-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (left-DLPFC) on motor cortex excitability and pain in those with CLBP. Nineteen participants with CLBP (Mage = 53.16 years, SDage = 14.80 years) received 20-min of sham or anodal tDCS, twice weekly, for 4 weeks. Short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) were assessed using paired-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation prior to and immediately following the tDCS intervention. Linear Mixed Models revealed no significant effect of tDCS group or time, on SICI or ICF. The interactions between tDCS group and time on SICI and ICF only approached significance. Bayesian analyses revealed the anodal-tDCS group demonstrated higher ICF and SICI following the intervention compared to the sham-tDCS group. The anodal-tDCS group also demonstrated a reduction in pain intensity and self-reported disability compared to the sham-tDCS group. These findings provide preliminary support for anodal-tDCS over left-DLPFC to modulate cortical excitability and reduce pain in CLBP. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advance in Brain Changes in Chronic Pain)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2032 KiB  
Article
The ALFF Alterations of Spontaneous Pelvic Pain in the Patients of Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome Evaluated by fMRI
by Shengyang Ge, Qingfeng Hu, Guowei Xia, Yifan Tan, Yijun Guo and Chuanyu Sun
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(10), 1344; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12101344 - 04 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1428
Abstract
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a challenging entity with complicated symptoms for treatment in the male crowd. Accumulating evidence revealed the dysfunction in the central system should be a critical factor for the pathogenesis and development in the CP/CPPS. Therefore, we [...] Read more.
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a challenging entity with complicated symptoms for treatment in the male crowd. Accumulating evidence revealed the dysfunction in the central system should be a critical factor for the pathogenesis and development in the CP/CPPS. Therefore, we recruited 20 patients of CP/CPPS and 20 healthy male volunteers, aged 20 to 50 years. Through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we analyzed the mean amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (mALFF) and the mean fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (mfALFF) to reflect the spontaneous abnormal activated regions in the brains of CP/CPPS patients. Compared to the healthy controls, the group with CP/CPPS had significantly increased mALFF values in the thalamus and augmented fALFF values in the inferior parietal lobule and cingulate gyrus. Significant positive correlations were observed in the extracted mALFF values in the midbrain periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) and the pain intensity (r = 0.2712, p = 0.0019), mALFF values in the thalamus and the scores of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety subscale (r = 0.08477, p = 0.0461), and mfALFF values in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and the scores of the HADS anxiety subscale (r = 0.07102, p = 0.0282). Therefore, we delineated the clinical alterations in patients of CP/CPPS that might be attributed to the functional abnormality of the thalamus, inferior parietal lobule, and cingulate gyrus. Among these regions, the PAG, thalamus, and SFG may further play an important role in the pathogenesis, with their regulating effect on pain or emotion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advance in Brain Changes in Chronic Pain)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop