Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Motor cortex stimulation modulates defective central beta rhythms in patients with neuropathic pain.
Motor cortex stimulation therapy (MCS) is increasingly used to control refractory neuropathic pain. Post-movement beta synchronization (PMBS) is defined as a sharp increase in beta-frequency electroencephalographic power following movement offset and may reflect sensorimotor cortex inhibition induced, at least in part, by cortical processing of movement-related sensory afferent inputs. PMBS pattern is then often altered in case of neuropathic pain. The main objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that implanted MCS modulates PMBS in patients presenting with neuropathic pain. ⋯ The restoration by MCS of defective cortical inhibition in patients with neuropathic pain is evoked.
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The precise pathophysiology of fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, remains to be clarified. When subjected to the same amount of stimulation, patients show enhanced brain responses as compared to controls, providing evidence of central pain augmentation in this syndrome. We aimed to characterize brain response differences when stimulation is adjusted to elicit similar subjective levels of pain in both groups. ⋯ The present results suggest that central pain augmentation is present in fibromyalgia, not only when the objective level of stimulation is kept the same as for control subjects, but also when stimulation is adjusted to produce similar levels of pain in patients and controls.
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To test if orofacial somatosensory perception can be modulated by experimental thermal application in healthy human. ⋯ The results support clinical experiences that cooling may alleviates pain both locally and generally.
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Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) has been repeatedly shown to be comparably accurate to direct cortical stimulation (DCS) for rolandic region mapping. However, there are no data on its use for recurrent gliomas in which scarring and radiotherapy can impair nTMS. We therefore evaluated the accuracy of nTMS versus DCS and functional MRI (fMRI) in recurrent gliomas compared to initially operated tumors. ⋯ nTMS is also applicable in recurrent tumors.
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Comparative Study
Neuronal oscillations in the EEG under varying cognitive load: a comparative study between slow waves and faster oscillations.
This study has been specifically designed to investigate very low frequency neuronal oscillations (VLFO, <0.5 Hz) during resting states and during goal-directed tasks of graded difficulty levels, quantify the changes that the slow waves undergo in these conditions and compare them with those for higher frequency bands (namely delta, theta and alpha). ⋯ Our work provides important insight into the association between VLF brain activity and conventional EEG frequency bands, and presents a novel framework for assessing neural activity during various mental conditions and psychiatric states.