title: Challenges of functional imaging research of pain in children.
abstract: Functional imaging has revolutionized the neurosciences. In the pain field it has dramatically altered our understanding of how the brain undergoes significant functional, anatomical and chemical changes in patients with chronic pain. However, most studies have been performed in adults. Because functional imaging is non-invasive and can be performed in awake individuals, applications in children have become more prevalent, but only recently in the pain field. Measures of changes in the brains of children have important implications in understanding neural plasticity in response to acute and chronic pain in the developing brain. Such findings may have implications for treatments in children affected by chronic pain and provide novel insights into chronic pain syndromes in adults. In this review we summarize this potential and discuss specific concerns related to the imaging of pain in children.
authors.affiliation: P.A.I.N. Group, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Boston, Massachuesetts, USA. Simona.Sava@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sava
authors.forename: Alyssa A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Lebel
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.forename: Athena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Drosos
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berde
authors.forename: Lino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Becerra
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Borsook
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010146:Pain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*