Unravelling the mystery of pain, suffering, and relief with brain imaging. by Lee, M, Tracey, I

Unravelling the mystery of pain, suffering, and relief with brain imaging by Lee, M, Tracey, I

Pain relief as an opponent process: a psychophysical investigation. by Leknes, S, Brooks, J, Wiech, K, Tracey, I

“…However, this definition of relief may be insufficient to capture the utility of pain relief for the individual. …”

Neural basis of induced phantom limb pain relief by Kikkert, S, Mezue, M, O'Shea, J, Henderson-Slater, JDE, Johansen-Berg, H, Tracey, I, Makin, TR

“…Insight into the mechanisms underlying both PLP and NIBS‐induced PLP relief is needed for future implementation of such treatment and generalization to related conditions.…”

The importance of context: when relative relief renders pain pleasant. by Leknes, S, Berna, C, Lee, M, Snyder, G, Biele, G, Tracey, I

“…In this study we measured hedonic feelings, skin conductance, and brain activation patterns in 16 healthy volunteers who experienced moderate pain in two different contexts. In the "relative relief context," moderate pain represented the best outcome, since the alternative outcome was intense pain. …”

The importance of context: When relative relief renders pain pleasant by Leknes, S, Berna, C, Lee, M, Snyder, G, Biele, G, Tracey, I

“…In this study we measured hedonic feelings, skin conductance, and brain activation patterns in 16 healthy volunteers who experienced moderate pain in two different contexts. In the "relative relief context," moderate pain represented the best outcome, since the alternative outcome was intense pain. …”

Relief as a reward: hedonic and neural responses to safety from pain by Leknes, S, Lee, M, Berna, C, Andersson, J, Tracey, I

“…Relief fits the definition of a reward. Unlike other reward types the pleasantness of relief depends on the violation of a negative expectation, yet this has not been investigated using neuroimaging approaches. …”

Relief as a reward: hedonic and neural responses to safety from pain. by Leknes, S, Lee, M, Berna, C, Andersson, J, Tracey, I

“…Relief fits the definition of a reward. Unlike other reward types the pleasantness of relief depends on the violation of a negative expectation, yet this has not been investigated using neuroimaging approaches. …”

Structural connectivity variances underlie functional and behavioral changes during pain relief induced by neuromodulation by Lin, R, Douaud, G, Filippini, N, Okell, T, Stagg, C, Tracey, I

Imaging the neural correlates of neuropathic pain and pleasurable relief associated with inherited erythromelalgia in a single subject with quantitative arterial spin labelling. by Segerdahl, A, Xie, J, Paterson, K, Ramirez, J, Tracey, I, Bennett, D

“…Additionally, we employed a novel perfusion imaging technique in a simple block design to assess her baseline erythromelalgia pain vs cooling relief. Robust activations of key pain, pain-affect, and reward-related centres were observed. …”

Imaging the neural correlates of neuropathic pain and pleasurable relief associated with inherited erythromelalgia in a single subject with quantitative arterial spin labelling by Segerdahl, A, Xie, J, Paterson, K, Ramirez, J, Tracey, I, Bennett, D

“…Additionally, we employed a novel perfusion imaging technique in a simple block design to assess her baseline erythromelalgia pain vs cooling relief. Robust activations of key pain, pain-affect, and reward-related centres were observed. …”

Opioid-independent and opioid-mediated modes of pain modulation by Berna, C, Leknes, S, Ahmad, A, Mhuircheartaigh, R, Goodwin, G, Tracey, I

“…Context/expectation-driven (relative relief-related) analgesia was blocked by naloxone. …”

Amygdala activity contributes to the dissociative effect of cannabis on pain perception. by Lee, M, Ploner, M, Wiech, K, Bingel, U, Wanigasekera, V, Brooks, J, Menon, D, Tracey, I

“…Cannabis is reported to be remarkably effective for the relief of otherwise intractable pain. However, the bases for pain relief afforded by this psychotropic agent are debatable. …”

Pain, decisions, and actions: a motivational perspective. by Wiech, K, Tracey, I

“…We highlight recent insights into the modulation of pain through fear and social factors, summarize findings on the role of pain in fear conditioning, avoidance learning and goal conflicts and discuss evidence on pain-related cognitive interference and motivational aspects of pain relief.…”

Imaging opioid analgesia in the human brain and its potential relevance for understanding opioid use in chronic pain. by Lee, M, Wanigasekera, V, Tracey, I

“…In this review, we discuss how far human neuroimaging research has come in providing a mechanistic understanding of pain relief provided by opioids, and suggest avenues for further studies that are relevant to the management of chronic pain with opioids. …”

Investigation of the neural correlates of ongoing pain states using quantitative perfusion arterial spin labelling by Segerdahl, AR

“…Finally, in Chapter 6, we implement the absolute perfusion approach developed in Chaper 5 to interrogate the neural correlates of the genetic pain disease, Erythromelalgia, and pleasurable relief. The results of this study show pain-related activation (and relief-induced reduction) of key pain-related regions. …”

Counter-stimulatory effects on pain perception and processing are significantly altered by attention: an fMRI study. by Longe, SE, Wise, R, Bantick, S, Lloyd, D, Johansen-Berg, H, McGlone, F, Tracey, I

“…These results suggest attention plays an important part in the pain relief experienced from counter-stimulation.…”

Neuroimaging of pain mechanisms. by Tracey, I

“…Relating data to a person's specific pain report or measure of pain relief provide a clearer understanding of the mechanisms driving and maintaining this complex experience. …”

Imaging pain. by Tracey, I

“…Identifying non-invasively where plasticity, sensitization and other amplification processes might occur along the pain neuraxis for an individual and relating this to their specific pain experience or measure of pain relief is therefore of considerable interest to the clinical pain community and pharmaceutical industry. …”

Pharmacological FMRI in the development of new analgesic compounds. by Schweinhardt, P, Bountra, C, Tracey, I

“…Despite a range of drugs being available to treat chronic pain, only inadequate pain relief can be achieved for many patients. There is therefore a need for the development of new analgesic compounds. …”