Evaluation of pressure-induced pain in patients with disorders of consciousness based on functional near infrared spectroscopy.
Frontiers in neurology January 1, 2025 Tan Zhang, Nan Wang, Xiaoke Chai et al. 2 citations
In patients with disorders of consciousness, acute pressure pain stimulation did not produce significant changes in oxygenated or deoxygenated hemoglobin concentrations across multiple brain regions, indicating minimal activation of pain-related areas. However, functional connectivity between the primary somatosensory cortex, primary motor cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex significantly increased during stimulation, with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9. This enhanced coordination among sensory, motor, and cognitive regions suggests that the brain continues to process pain information through altered network connectivity even when regional activation is absent. The findings underscore the potential of functional connectivity measures for evaluating pain processing in patients with disorders of consciousness.