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Discovery: The Anatomy of Pain: Seeing Pain

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Seeing Pain

22/01/2018 GMT

The Anatomy of Pain

BBC World Service - Discovery, The Anatomy of Pain, Seeing PainSearch BBC

Why do some people feel more pain than others and what happens in the brain during surgery

Why do some people feel more pain than others and what happens in the brain during surgery? Irene Tracey asks if we can see pain generated in the brain using high tech scanners.

Mystery still surrounds the experience of pain. It is highly subjective but why do some people feel more pain than others and why does the brain appear to switch off under anaesthesia so we are unaware of the surgeon’s scalpel? Professor Irene Tracey uses brain scanners to ask if we can actually see pain in the brain. On air we hear for the first time the results of the latest research into diabetes and nerve pain. Promising new techniques means scientists are able to see regions in the brain which effectively turn up the pain in some people and not others.

Anaesthetics prevent pain during surgery but how the brain disengages is only just beginning to be understood, which could in the future lead to personalised doses of anaesthetics leading to faster recovery times.

Picture: Graphic of neurons firing in the of the neural network within the Brain, Credit: Science Photo Library

Discovery: The Anatomy of Pain

The 'Queen of Pain', Professor Irene Tracey, examines cutting edge research into how and why we feel different types of pain.

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