Doctors Use Brainwaves to Objectively Measure Chronic Pain

Summary

Researchers published a landmark study in Nature Neuroscience demonstrating for the first time that chronic pain can be objectively measured using brain signals recorded in daily life rather than relying solely on patients' subjective reports. Using brain implants in four patients with chronic pain conditions, scientists identified biomarkers in low-frequency activity of the orbitofrontal cortex that reliably tracked each individual's reported pain intensity over months of normal activity outside a clinical setting.

The breakthrough matters because chronic pain has historically been impossible to verify objectively, complicating diagnosis, treatment decisions, and clinical trials for new therapies. The findings are part of an effort to develop personalized brain stimulation treatments that could help the estimated 51.6 million Americans living with chronic pain conditions for whom existing treatments remain inadequate.