TY - GEN
T1 - Simultaneous Modulation of Cortical Activity and Phantom Pain in a Patient with Brachial Plexus Injury
AU - Zarei, Ali Asghar
AU - Atashzar, S. Farokh
AU - Jensen, Winnie
AU - Jadidi, Armita Faghani
AU - Lontis, Romulus
N1 - Funding Information:
S.F. Atashzar is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is also affiliated with NYUWIRELESS, and NYU CUSP centers, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, USA, New York, USA. His efforts were supported by US National Science Foundation, Award # 2037878
Funding Information:
*This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmed under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 754465 and the Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), which is supported by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF121).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 IEEE.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Brachial plexus injury may induce complete loss of sensation and motor control in parts of the affected arm, leading to phantom limb pain (PLP). PLP is associated with functional reorganization at the somatosensory cortex and alteration in the functional connectivity of the related pain brain areas. Several therapies have previously been suggested for PLP relief. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a non-invasive intervention used for pain relief and stroke rehabilitation. However, the underlying mechanism of TENS on cortical activity associated with PLP relief is not well-known. The effect of TENS (20Hz) intervention on somatosensory activity, cortical functional connectivity, and possible PLP reduction was investigated in this study in the case of a 55 year old subject with brachial plexus injury inducing complete paralysis below the elbow in the left arm. We recorded EEG data and the patient's pain level before and after the intervention. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and functional connectivity between pain-related areas were assessed from EEG data. The results showed that the application of TENS suppressed somatosensory evoked potentials. In addition, the intervention enhanced the functional connectivity (a) between the primary somatosensory cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex (SI-ACC), also (b) between the primary somatosensory cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex (SI-MPC). Moreover, these results were associated with PLP reduction following TENS. We compared the results with our previous research on a large healthy population to assess the cortical changes.
AB - Brachial plexus injury may induce complete loss of sensation and motor control in parts of the affected arm, leading to phantom limb pain (PLP). PLP is associated with functional reorganization at the somatosensory cortex and alteration in the functional connectivity of the related pain brain areas. Several therapies have previously been suggested for PLP relief. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a non-invasive intervention used for pain relief and stroke rehabilitation. However, the underlying mechanism of TENS on cortical activity associated with PLP relief is not well-known. The effect of TENS (20Hz) intervention on somatosensory activity, cortical functional connectivity, and possible PLP reduction was investigated in this study in the case of a 55 year old subject with brachial plexus injury inducing complete paralysis below the elbow in the left arm. We recorded EEG data and the patient's pain level before and after the intervention. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and functional connectivity between pain-related areas were assessed from EEG data. The results showed that the application of TENS suppressed somatosensory evoked potentials. In addition, the intervention enhanced the functional connectivity (a) between the primary somatosensory cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex (SI-ACC), also (b) between the primary somatosensory cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex (SI-MPC). Moreover, these results were associated with PLP reduction following TENS. We compared the results with our previous research on a large healthy population to assess the cortical changes.
KW - Brachial Plexus Injury
KW - Functional Brain Connectivity
KW - Phantom Limb Pain
KW - Somatosensory Evoked Potentials
KW - Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160650272&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85160650272&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/NER52421.2023.10123824
DO - 10.1109/NER52421.2023.10123824
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85160650272
T3 - International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER
BT - 11th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER 2023 - Proceedings
PB - IEEE Computer Society
T2 - 11th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER 2023
Y2 - 25 April 2023 through 27 April 2023
ER -