Cortical Excitability, Neuropathic Pain
Conditions
Keywords
Neuropathic pain, Cortical excitability, Transcranial magnetic stimulation, Contact Heat evoked potential, peripheral nerve stimulation, neurotrophic factors
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether patients with neuropathic pain has abnormal excitability in somatosensory cortex and abnormal sensory-motor connections.
Detailed description
There are several brain areas responsible for neuropathic pain reported in functional image studies, including primary sensory cortex, insula, and anterior cingulate gyrus. However, it is few informations about the functional status of these areas. Besides, the reason of the individual variability about the developement of neuropathic pain remains unknown. It is lack of satisfactory explanation about why some people developed neuropathic pain in certain diseased situation (for example, type 2 diabetes), while others do not. We hypothesis that patients with neuropathic pain has abnormal cortical excitability and plasticity in certain brain area. Therefore developed neuropathic pain certain diseased condition while others not. Therefore, we will use multimodal electrophysiology tools,such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, and contact heat evoke potential to monitor the cortical excitability and plasticity non-invasively.
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
National Taiwan University Hospital
Study design
Observational model
CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Healthy volunteers * patients with pain resulted from dysfunction of peripheral or central nervous system * the disorders of peripheral nerves are diagnosed by nerve conduction study, quantitative sensory test, quantification of skin innervation or contact heat evoked potentials * lesion of central nervous system should be confirmed by neuroimage.
Exclusion criteria
* previous history of epilepsy, seizure disorders or major head injury * previous brain surgery or intracranial metalic implant * implanted devices as cardiac pacemaker * pregnant subjects * patient with severe cardiac or pulmonary disease who potentially cannot tolerate stress
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Abnormal cortical excitability in motor-sensory cross-talk | non-applicable |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Genetic variability of neurotrophic factors between groups | non-applicable |
Countries
Taiwan
Contacts
Primary ContactMing-Kai Pan, M.D.
Backup ContactCh-Chao Chao, M.D.
Outcome results
None listed