Dear MRI Insider,
Let’s take a flight of fancy back to the days leading up to September 14. Because it was on September 14 that the overexposed duo of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were set to wed in California. Of course, the event never happened. If gossipmongers are to be believed, just days before the $1.5 million spectacle, actor Affleck informed the singer that he was not so keen on making the Bennifer union official.
According to psychologists, if J Lo had wanted a preview of what it would feel like to have her fiancé call off the nuptials, she could have slammed a digit in the door of her Bentley, or whacked her humerus on the edge of a marble bathtub. Based on the results of an fMRI study, the brain’s response to being hurt is a fairly homogenous one -- whether those hurt feelings stem from a beloved’s rejection or a toe stubbed at the foot of the bed.
The specific brain areas scrutinized by the international group from Los Angeles and Sydney were the anterior cingulate cortex and the right ventral pre-frontal cortex, also known as the alarm system of the mind when it comes to registering pain. You can read more on this fascinating investigation at http://www.auntminnie.com/default.asp?Sec=sup&Sub=mri&Pag=dis&ItemId=59517.
While this research is preliminary, it could have unique implications for one of the fastest-growing areas in medicine -- pain management. According to the American Pain Society, as many as 50 million Americans report chronic pain due to a wide variety of ailments. The U.S. Congress recently passed the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2003, designed to increase public and professional awareness of pain issues and the best way to treat them.
While we’re on the subject of pain management, check out our Radiology Review article on the value of MR for predicting short-term pain relief after intra-articular injection for bone and joint disorders. Click here for the details.
