Human brain measures of clinical pain: a review I. Topographic mappings

A comprehensive paper (Parts I and II) has been developed to review the 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 anatomico-, chemical-physiological assessment of clinical pain. In Part I, these measures include the qualitative inspection of the conventional electroencephalogram, quantitative assessment of brain electrical spectral activity through cortical power spectrum density and coherence analyses, and quantitative averaging of cortical electrical or magnetic activities using brain evoked potentials. The mapping and measurement of these electrical activities and magnetic fields are results of recent 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 review tomographic imaging of pain-related brain activities in regional cerebral flow, the scanning of gross and fine brain structures by computerized axial tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and the imaging and measurement of brain metabolic changes, energy uptake, and receptor bindings through positron emission tomography or single-photon emission computerized tomography. Molecular chemical transformation by the nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of tissue changes and analgesic-receptor interactions will also be noted.