Chronic pain affects more than 20 percent of people and is the leading cause of disability and loss of productivity. Recent development in technologies and protocols for electrical non-invasive or invasive stimulation or inhibition of specific pathways in the brain or spinal cord are being developed. At the forefront of this area of neurology is Dirk de Ridder, Professor of Neurosurgery at Otago University and co-founder of the BRAI3N Center for Neuromodulation in Ghent Belgium. In this episode he describes the triple network model of brain circuitry for pain: a lateral painfulness pathway from the spinal cord to the brain; a medial pathway in the brain that mediates suffering; and an inhibitory pathway for pain suppression. He talks about how EEG recordings can be used to determine which pathways are altered in patients with chronic pain and therefore which location and protocol for stimulation is most likely to be effective. Rapid progress in the development of these technologies is resulting in much needed help for those who suffer from and are disabled by chronic pain.

LINKS

BRAI3N Center (Advanced, International, Innovative and interdisciplinary neuromodulation

Triple Network Model of Chronic Pain

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8934778/pdf/fneur-13-757241.pdf

Burst stimulation for chronic pain

https://www.brainstimjrnl.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1935-861X%2823%2901872-7

Chronic pain is a brain imbalance

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7966784/pdf/fcab014.pdf

Dirk de Ridder: Brain and Spinal Cord Stimulation Therapies for Chronic Pain, Tinnitus, etc.