Development of non-invasive tool for evaluating neural activity of brain thalamus, anterior cingulated cortex, and prefrontal cortex in pain patients using ^1H-MRS.

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We investigated the absolute concentration of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in the thalamus, anterior cingulated cortex (ACC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC), in chronic pain patients by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (^1H-MRS).^1H-MRS was performed with a 1.5T MR system on a voxel in the thalamus, ACC, and PFC bilaterally, in 48 chronic pain patients and 23 normal control subjects. We measured the absolute concentration of NAA using a LC-Model.The 26 patients whose NAA concentration in the ACC or PFC decreased significantly, compared to the mean NAA concentration of the normal control subjects, needed psychological approach. ^1H-MRS suggest that NAA concentration in the ACC or PFC seems to be associated with the necessity of psychological approach.^1H-MRS may serve as a useful non-invasive tool for evaluating neural activity of thalamus, anterior cingulated cortex, and prefrontal cortex in chronic pain patients.