The Use of Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Pain Research

Diffusion tractography uses non-invasive brain imaging data to trace fibre bundles in the human brain in vivo. This technique is increasingly used to explore features of brain anatomy both in health and disease and has only recently been started to be applied in pain research. This talk presents the pioneering DTI studies in the field of pain and outlines potential future directions using this technique. These include the phenomenon of the interindividual variability in pain sensitivity and the ability for pain modulation, plastic changes associated with chronic pain states as well as genetic influences on the anatomy of pain circuitry.