The Collective Good: Pooling Data to Boost Brain Imaging Research | Pain Research Forum

The world of chronic pain research now has its eyes on the brain. Some quality of the brain—whether a particular gray matter distribution or the idiosyncratic configuration of a network—might be the key to the perpetuation of pain perception long after an initial injury, according to a growing number of studies. However, finding that cerebral essence is hindered by the fact that most brain imaging studies of chronic pain are limited to small numbers of patients due to cost and practicality. Several researchers are now aiming to get more from those studies by establishing new resources that allow the sharing of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. One such effort is the Pain and Interoception Imaging Network (PAIN), headed by Emeran Mayer, a gastroenterologist and neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, US. PAIN provides the infrastructure for researchers to share resting-state functional MRI data and structural MRI data from patients with different chronic pain conditions, whether it be irritable bowel syndrome, lower back pain, or migraine. PAIN is the first standardized brain imaging database dedicated to chronic pain. PAIN "will function as the lead site for collecting brain imaging data," said Mayer, where results from multiple groups will be pooled in one hub. The repository began on a smaller scale as part of the Multidisciplinary Approaches to Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Neuroimaging Network, part of a research consortium fund...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs