fMRI of Pain Processing in Diabetic Neuropathy

Jennifer L. Davies¹, Dinesh Selvarajah², Michael D. Hunter³, Elaine Cachia¹, Adithya Sankar¹, Irene Tracey⁴, Solomon Tesfaye², Iain D. Wilkinson¹

Diabetic Neuropathy (DN) is a common, debilitating complication of diabetes, often associated with chronic pain. This study investigates the brains response to acute thermal pain stimulation in: 10 patients with Painful-DN; 10 with Painless-DN and 10 Healthy Volunteers (HV), using BOLD fMRI at 3T. The response was evaluated using a GLM. At the group level, greater BOLD-response in the foot (neuropathic area) vs the thigh (control area) was present in the somatosensory, prefrontal and anterior cingulated cortices when comparing the painful-DN to the HV groups and in the prefrontal cortex when comparing the painful-DN to the painless-DN groups.