HUMAN BRAIN MEASURES OF CLINICAL PAIN - A REVIEW .1. TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPINGS

A comprehensive paper (Parts I and II) has been developed to review th e cerebral measures employed in studying the brain neurophysiological activities of clinical pain. Part I focuses on the electro-, magnetic- physiological assessment of clinical pain, and Part II concerns the an atomico-, chemical-physiological assessment of clinical pain. In Part I, these measures include the qualitative inspection of the convention al electroencephalogram, quantitative assessment of brain electrical s pectral activity through cortical power spectrum density and coherence analyses, and quantitative averaging of cortical electrical or magnet ic activities using brain evoked potentials. The mapping and measureme nt of these electrical activities and magnetic fields are results of r ecent advent in computer technology and advanced algorithms. Promises and limitations of these topographic measures in understanding pain in the brain are stated. The next article (Part II) of this paper will r eview tomographic imaging of pain-related brain activities in regional cerebral flow, the scanning of gross and fine brain structures by com puterized axial tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and the imag ing and measurement of brain metabolic changes, energy uptake, and rec eptor bindings through positron emission tomography or single-photon e mission computerized tomography. Molecular chemical transformation by the nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of tissue changes and analgesi c-receptor interactions will also be noted.