Imagine never again hearing, “On a scale from 0 to 10, what would you rate your pain?” Well, someday, we may have a way to measure pain directly and not just from a person’s report. But for now, unless you want an MRI at each doctor’s visit, you’ll still be hearing that query.
But new research shows that fMRI’s can tell if someone is in pain, and also gauge – somewhat – how much pain they have. Irene Tracey, a Professor of Anaesthetic Science at Oxford University, reports that fMRI’s (which work by measuring blood flow) are different in those experiencing pain and those without pain. As well, the fMRI changes depending on the severity of pain.
Currently, fMRI’s are for research only. But future clinical options may include:
- evaluating and treating people who are unable to communicate. For example, someone with a head injury may be in pain, but can’t report it.
- research on the effectiveness of treatments. fMRI’s could be used to measure how much a treatment decreases pain.
- legal cases. An objective study could differentiate those in pain from those who don’t have pain.
Grand Rounds, a medical-blog carnival, is published this week at The Covert Rationing Blog.
3 responses so far ↓
corina // Aug 15, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I hate that pain scale! It’s all I can do not to scream every time I’m asked to rate my pain level with it…. But I do want to mention a pain scale which I find makes some sense, at least to me, the Mankowski Pain Scale. Likely you know it, but just in case not: http://collectivedisorder.com/node/9.
Thank you for yesterday’s particularly beautiful music & video, as well as for all your work.
How to Cope with Pain // Aug 15, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Corina, I haven’t seen that exact one. It is helpful to have something to describe the numbers, rather than just a number and each person using a number to mean something different.
This one does seem more for acute pain. Describing the effect of pain medication seems more accurate for acute pain, not chronic pain.
Thanks for sharing.
Nickie // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:40 am
Yeah, I think the pain scale isn’t great, but it’s better than having pain thresholds tested at every visit. I understand they’re supposed to be more accurate, but with RSD I just wanted to scream. Luckily for my doctors, I have a hard time verbalizing that I’m in pain, so I never do scream.
Ah, but back to the subject at hand, I think these types of scans could be very helpful, we’d understand a lot more about each person’s experience of pain, too. The more information doctors have, the better off they are as they try to help us.
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