Joint Precision Imaging Beacon/Versus Arthritis Pain Centre - External scientific meeting – Hosted by Dr Duncan Hodkinson
This meeting was held on the 16 April 2021 and entitled “Brain Plasticity and Reorganization in Chronic Pain”.
The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the recent progress made in unravelling the central mechanisms of chronic pain. The focus was on neuroimaging methods as they provide a non-invasive, systems-level understanding of the central mechanisms involved in pain processing. The meeting was split into two sessions:
- The first plenary talk (by Dr Marco Loggia) looked specifically at the role of neuroinflammation in chronic pain. He discussed how neuro-inflammation and particularly the activation of non-neuronal cells (such as microglia) contribute to amplification of pain and neuroplasticity. Next, Dr Steve Woodhams and Dr Amanda Lillywhite provided a scientific basis for understanding the interdependence of chronic musculoskeletal pain and its comorbidities (notably anxiety). The first session concluded with a presentation by, Dr Rosa Sanchez Panchuelo who provided evidence from ultra-high field 7T MRI of the somatotopic organization of the human brain and its potential for examining cortical reorganization.
- The second plenary talk (by Dr Ben Seymour) introduced a new theoretical model to explain the physiological basis of pain. He also discussed how this new model might guide the search for future therapies to prevent and reverse chronic pain. Dr Will Cottam and Dr Marianne Drabek presented how neuroimaging has enabled them to identify novel brain mechanisms that contribute to chronic musculoskeletal pain and examine the response to existing pharmacological therapies. Finally, Dr Duncan Hodkinson concluded the meeting by discussing how processes of neuroplasticity and network organization might aid in development of novel, non-pharmacological pain therapies (specifically neuromodulation).
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