Doctors recorded brainwaves to finally ‘see’ their patients’ chronic pain
Chronic pain can stem from any number of illnesses or injuries, but it's difficult to study in individual patients. Deposit Photos Everyone has different perceptions of pain. Some can sit for hours getting tattooed for an arm sleeve, while others squirm at having their finger pricked. Because pain is subjective, doctors have a hard time evaluating and treating patients who are dealing with it chronically. Now, neurologists have successfully used a person’s brain signals to predict how much pain they were feeling. The small but unprecedented study, published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, identified hard clues in brainwaves that could objectively measure the intensity of chronic pain versus acute pain. The findings are part of a larger clinical trial aimed at creating a personalized brain stimulation therapy that could bring relief to...