Neurofeedback for Treatment of Neuropathic Pain in Patients with Spincal Cord Injury
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
People with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) cannot move their limbs under a level of the injury. In addition, one thids of SCI patients have severe chronic neuropathic pain that often does not respond to medications. Although patients experience neuropathic pain as a pain in one part of their body, its origin is actually in the brain, which is being confused by the lack of sensations from the paralysed limb.
This project proposes a novel method for treatment of neuropathic pain that does not require medications. It is a brain train method based on so called neurofeedback . In this method, patients brain waves are recorded using surface electrodes (electroencephalography) and processed in real-time on a computer. A certain features of the brain activity, that are related to the pain, are displayed on a computer screen almost simultaneously while they are recorded. The patient is asked to voluntarily modify those features, and in that way to reduce the experience of pain. Although the method might seem difficult, experience with a similar ?neurofeedback? therapy to suppress epileptic seizures show that people can fairly easily learn how to modify their brain waves. The main advantage of the ?neurofeedback? therapy is that once patients learn to use ?the brain train? strategy, they can practice it at home, without a feedback from a computer.
If successful, this therapy will greatly improve the quality of life of people who are already strongly debilitated with paralysis of their limbs and would free them from a daily use of pain-killers. For some of the patients that might even mean getting back to work. It is expected that the new therapy will also reduced NHS costs for patients treatment.
The same therapy can be used for the other groups of patients with neuropathic pain, such as stroke patients and amputees.
This project proposes a novel method for treatment of neuropathic pain that does not require medications. It is a brain train method based on so called neurofeedback . In this method, patients brain waves are recorded using surface electrodes (electroencephalography) and processed in real-time on a computer. A certain features of the brain activity, that are related to the pain, are displayed on a computer screen almost simultaneously while they are recorded. The patient is asked to voluntarily modify those features, and in that way to reduce the experience of pain. Although the method might seem difficult, experience with a similar ?neurofeedback? therapy to suppress epileptic seizures show that people can fairly easily learn how to modify their brain waves. The main advantage of the ?neurofeedback? therapy is that once patients learn to use ?the brain train? strategy, they can practice it at home, without a feedback from a computer.
If successful, this therapy will greatly improve the quality of life of people who are already strongly debilitated with paralysis of their limbs and would free them from a daily use of pain-killers. For some of the patients that might even mean getting back to work. It is expected that the new therapy will also reduced NHS costs for patients treatment.
The same therapy can be used for the other groups of patients with neuropathic pain, such as stroke patients and amputees.
Technical Summary
The proposal elaborates a method to quantify and treat the neuropathic pain in Spinal Cord Injured (SCI) patients, using tools and techniques from the area of Brain Computer Interface (BCI). Almost one third of SCI patients experience a severe neuropathic pain that strongly interferes with their sleep and daily activities, seriously reducing their quality of life. The neuropathic pain is often purely pharmacologically treated. In addition, strong medications often have an unwanted side-effects.
Several studies have shown a relation between the experience of neuropathic pain and modulation of patient?s brain waves. Therefore a pain treatment based on direct voluntary modulation of brain waves has a potential to be the most successful non- pharmacological therapy of neuropathic pain. Recent advances in BCI have enabled fast on-line processing of brain activity providing a patient with an immediate feedback of that activity. This immediate ?neurofeedback? gives a patient an opportunity to learn how to modify their brain waves in a desired manner. Neurofeedback therapy of neuropathic pain would enable patients to modulate brain activity in a direction that would reduce their experience of pain.
Specific objectives of the proposal are
1. To define and test EEG features to be targeted with neurofeedback.
2. To experimentally define the best strategies for neurofeedback training
3. To test whether voluntary modulation of brain waves reduce patients experience of pain.
Several studies have shown a relation between the experience of neuropathic pain and modulation of patient?s brain waves. Therefore a pain treatment based on direct voluntary modulation of brain waves has a potential to be the most successful non- pharmacological therapy of neuropathic pain. Recent advances in BCI have enabled fast on-line processing of brain activity providing a patient with an immediate feedback of that activity. This immediate ?neurofeedback? gives a patient an opportunity to learn how to modify their brain waves in a desired manner. Neurofeedback therapy of neuropathic pain would enable patients to modulate brain activity in a direction that would reduce their experience of pain.
Specific objectives of the proposal are
1. To define and test EEG features to be targeted with neurofeedback.
2. To experimentally define the best strategies for neurofeedback training
3. To test whether voluntary modulation of brain waves reduce patients experience of pain.