The contribution of functional imaging techniques to our understanding of rheumatic pain

Some of the recent advances in functional brain imaging that allow us to vi ew molecular events within the brain are reviewed in this article. The focu s is on positron emission tomography, but some of the important results usi ng other techniques such as single photon emission tomography, functional m agnetic resonance imaging, surface electrophysiology (EEG and pain-evoked p otentials), and magnetoencephalography are mentioned where appropriate. The contributions these techniques have made to providing a much more detailed understanding of how the brain processes information about actual and poss ible noxious stimuli is described. All of the imaging techniques are not re viewed, but a brief outline of what they measure is included.