title: Assessing Nociception by fMRI of the Human Spinal Cord: A Systematic Review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the use of fMRI of the spinal cord in measuring noxious stimulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Scopus, Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were searched, along with the reference lists of included articles. Two independent reviewers screened abstracts, full-text articles, and extracted data. Original research was included if fMRI of the human spinal cord was used to measure responses to noxious stimulation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 192 abstracts screened, 19 met the search criteria and were divided according to their focus: investigating pain responses (n = 6), methodology (n = 6), spinal cord injury (n = 2), or cognition-pain interactions (n = 5). All but one study appear to have observed activity in ipsilateral and dorsal gray matter regions in response to noxious stimuli, although contralateral or ventral activity was also widely observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although nociception can be investigated using spinal fMRI, establishing reliability, standardizing methodology, and reporting of results will greatly advance this field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Tiffany A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Kolesar
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Kirsten M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Fiest
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornelsen
keywords: functional MRI; nociception; pain; spinal cord; systematic review