425 posters, 1 videos, 9 audios, 8 topics, 53 sessions, 340 authors, 286 institutions
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22nd Annual Pain Medicine Meeting 2023
November 10 - 11, 2023 | New Orleans Marriott | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
4725
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF VR PAIN TREATMENT ON THE BRAIN – A TIME-DOMAIN FUNCTIONAL NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY PILOT STUDY
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Emerging Technology
Measuring the impact of VR pain treatment on the brain: A Time-Domain functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Pilot Study
VR pain treatment modifies brain activity in chronic lower back pain patients.
INTRO
• Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging technology for pain management, however there is very little work on the neural mechanisms of action for VR pain treatments.
• This pilot study aims to fill in this gap by exploring the effect of a VR 8-week training program on Chronic Lower Back Pain (CLBP) patients by measuring physiology and brain activity patterns using a Time-Domain functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) system.
METHODS
• 19 participants (11F/8M, age (mean ± SD): 50.3 ± 12.34 years) completed 2 visits
RESULTS
• Compared to Sham VR, after 8 weeks of VR treatment, patients showed statistically significant increases in two types of coherent global brain activity, and decreased chronic lower back pain corresponding to these changes in brain activity.
DISCUSSION
• Brain measurements may provide a quantitative biomarker of pain.
• Changes in brain activity patterns were seen with VR pain treatment as compared to sham.
• A larger study is needed to validate and extend this finding.