A review article, published this month in the Journal of Pain, highlights that chronic pain causes structural, functional and chemical changes to the brain and therefore should potentially be treated as a disease in its own right. Commenting on the article and in answer to the question; ‘Should chronic pain be treated as a disease in its own right? Dr Chris Jenner St Mary’s Hospital pain specialist says:
“Scientists from the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain have suggested that chronic pain should be regarded as a disease in its own right. Their research into the functional, chemical and structural changes that occur in the brain in patients with persistent pain adds new evidence to this theory. In the clinical situation, patients with pain lasting more than 3 months have persistently elevated levels of pain, distress, low mood and physical impairment, in the absence of a painful stimulus.
The long term changes in biochemical and functional activity in the peripheral and central nervous systems are postulated to account for this. As a result chronic pain can be viewed as a disease in itself.”
“Improving our understanding of chronic pain and its mechanisms will lead to better treatments that hopefully will enable people to regain their independence as well as significantly enhance their quality of life”, said Professor Irene Tracey, co-author of the article and Director of the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) Centre and Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetic Science at the University of Oxford.
