A task force of the International Association for the Study of Pain has concluded that brain imaging is not a reliable way to legally prove or dispute a claim of chronic pain or pain-related disability.
In an article published September 8 in Nature Reviews: Neurology, the panel wrote that MRI, PET, electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetoencephalography in pain cases are in a "discovery phase." However, the task force added that brain imaging "should be used to further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying pain."
The Institute of Medicine estimates that some 100 million people in the U.S. experience chronic pain, which leads to more than $600 billion in annual costs for medical treatment, lost wages, and other related expenses.
Brain imaging modalities have the potential to advance understanding of the neural causes of chronic pain, help in the development of therapeutic agents, and assess treatment outcomes for individualized patient therapy, according to the task force.
The panel also recommended that standards of evidence be established before any brain imaging modality can be considered suitable for clinical or legal purposes.
