When recalling post-operative pain, patients who have a negatively-biased recall of pain (i.e. recalled pain is worse than originally reported pain) are at greater risk for the development of chronic pain. In this study by UTCSP scientists, Joel Katz, Jennifer Stinson, and colleagues sought to identify risk factors that promote negatively-biased recall of post-surgical pain in children.

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is primarily thought to be responsible for memory and cognition. However, several functional neuroimaging studies have shown the involvement of this brain region in both the response to experimental pain in healthy individuals and in patients with chronic pain.

The advent of technology and mobile health apps has transformed the way people monitor, manage, and communicate health-related information. For pain, “Manage My Pain” is a mobile health app used by thousands of individuals to measure and manage their pain.

Gabapentin (also known as Neurontin) is clinically prescribed for the treatment of seizures, pain, and anxiety. While gabapentin is known to modulate voltage-gated calcium channels, some studies have suggested the effects of gabapentin are also dependent on GABAergic inhibition.

Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is the phenomenon in which one painful stimulus (the conditioning stimulus) affects the pain perception of a second stimulus (the test stimulus) at a different site.