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Noxious pressure stimulation demonstrates robust, reliable estimates of brain activity and self-reported pain.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Jackson, Jade B 
O'Daly, Owen 
Makovac, Elena 
Medina, Sonia 
Rubio, Alfonso de Lara 

Abstract

Functional neuroimaging techniques have provided great insight in the field of pain. Utilising these techniques, we have characterised pain-induced responses in the brain and improved our understanding of key pain-related phenomena. Despite the utility of these methods, there remains a need to assess the test retest reliability of pain modulated blood-oxygen-level-dependant (BOLD) MR signal across repeated sessions. This is especially the case for more novel yet increasingly implemented stimulation modalities, such as noxious pressure, and it is acutely important for multi-session studies considering treatment efficacy. In the present investigation, BOLD signal responses were estimated for noxious-pressure stimulation in a group of healthy participants, across two separate sessions. Test retest reliability of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data and self-reported visual analogue scale measures were determined by the intra-class correlation coefficient. High levels of reliability were observed in several key brain regions known to underpin the pain experience, including in the thalamus, insula, somatosensory cortices, and inferior frontal regions, alongside "excellent" reliability of self-reported pain measures. These data demonstrate that BOLD-fMRI derived signals are a valuable tool for quantifying noxious responses pertaining to pressure stimulation. We further recommend the implementation of pressure as a stimulation modality in experimental applications.

Description

Keywords

Evoked-response fMRI, ICC, Noxious pressure, Pain, Test retest, VAS, Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nociception, Pain, Pain Measurement, Pressure, Reproducibility of Results, Self Report, Young Adult

Journal Title

Neuroimage

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1053-8119
1095-9572

Volume Title

221

Publisher

Elsevier BV