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Cold pressor gel test: A safe alternative to the cold pressor test in fMRI
Author(s) -
Lapotka Maryna,
Ruz María,
Salamanca Ballesteros Alberto,
Ocón Hernández Olga
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.26529
Subject(s) - cold pressor test , test (biology) , pressor response , medicine , psychology , neuroscience , blood pressure , biology , heart rate , paleontology
Purpose This study describes a new methodology—the cold pressor gel test (CPGT)—for delivering an accessible experimental pain stimulus, which is reproducible and safe for functional MRI (fMRI). Methods The cold pressor test was modified to put safety precautions into the CPGT. The material used is cool gelled water with a thickening product, which provides a stable temperature at 0.2 °C. Thirteen women with chronic pelvic pain were scanned using a 3 Tesla (T) MR scanner equipped with a 12‐channel head coil. Changes in BOLD activation during cold‐induced pain were estimated. Results The results have demonstrated that gel substances maintain a stable temperature during the experiment, resulting in an insignificant variation. Before the experiment, the mean temperature was 0.2 ± 0.11 °C, and at the end it was 0.7 ± 0.15 °C. The time taken by participants to reach the maximum level of pain during the CPGT was 56.92 ± 11.09 s. The pain intensity during the experiments was 6.92 ± 1.66 on the visual analog scale (VAS). The fMRI analysis showed significant BOLD activation in the main brain regions involved in chronic pain processing. Conclusion The CPGT is an experimental tool to deliver pain that is easily reproducible, particularly in brain functional imaging studies. Moreover, it is cost‐effective, safe, and compatible with fMRI. Magn Reson Med 78:1464–1468, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.