A revolutionary on the spot blood test that identifies chronic pain by colour “biomarkers” will be revealed at a pain medicine conference in Sydney today. (Sunday May 6). Australian neuroscientist Professor Mark Hutchinson who developed the world-first test with an Australian-based team believes the breakthrough has the potential to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment for the one in five Australians who suffer chronic pain.
Professor Hutchinson will tell a meeting of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists that the test would also benefit the diagnosis of pain in babies and dementia sufferers who are unable to communicate the extent or source of their pain.
“This gives us a brand new window into patients’ pain because we have created a new tool that not only allows for greater certainty of diagnosis but also can guide better drug treatment options,” he explained.
Professor Hutchinson, who has played a leading role in the development of blood tests for chronic pain, is the Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics at the University of Adelaide.
He believes the “painHS” test could be ready for broader use by pain medicine physicians and GPs within 18 months as a cost effective test to determine the severity of chronic pain in patients with lower back pain, fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, cancer pain and migraine.
Professor Hutchinson said while the earlier “painSEQ” and “painCELL” blood tests developed by his team to identify pain were accurate, it took one to two days to get the “bench to bookshelf” results.
However, the simple colour biomarker “bench to bedside” blood test meant clinicians could get the results instantly. The test uses light measurement tools (hyperspectral imaging analysis) to identify the molecular structures of what pain actually looks like in blood cells.
“We are literally quantifying the colour of pain,” Professor Hutchinson explained.
“We’ve now discovered that we can use the natural colour of biology to predict the severity of pain. What we’ve found is that persistent chronic pain has a different natural colour in immune cells than in a situation where there isn’t persistent pain.”
Professor Hutchinson stressed that the test could never replace the importance of having patients describe and discuss their pain with their doctor.
“Self-reporting (by patients) is still going to be key but what this does mean is that those ‘forgotten people’ who are unable to communicate their pain conditions such as babies or people with dementia can now have their condition diagnosed and treated.”
The test could eventually lead to the development of a new generation of drugs that would better target chronic pain conditions and also eliminate the need for clinical trials to use placebos to determine the effectiveness of a particular drug.
“We now know there is a peripheral cell signal so we could start designing new types of drugs for new types of cellular therapies that target the peripheral immune system to tackle central nervous system pain.”
Professor Hutchinson said the test also had the potential to revolutionise the treatment of animals.
“This has a profound impact not only for human health but also animals. Animals can’t tell us if they’re in pain but here we have a Dr Doolittle type test that enables us to ‘talk’ to the animals so we can find out if they are experiencing pain and then we can help them.”
Learn more: Breakthrough blood test reveals colour of chronic pain
The Latest on: Chronic pain
[google_news title=”” keyword=”chronic pain” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Chronic pain
- Laser Zaps Away Chronic Pain For Wounded Israeli Soldierson May 12, 2024 at 8:00 am
The laser system that Shane uses is a small hand-held device called “Handy Cure,” which is also available for use in the home. Shane, however, couples the laser treatment with acupuncture and other ...
- What People Would Give Up to Be Pain Free and Ways to Helpon May 10, 2024 at 7:38 am
Living with chronic, persistent pain is a fact of life for 3 out of 10 people in the U.S. What people would give up to reduce chronic pain and some helpful natural remedies to reduce pain and ...
- How cannabis and psilocybin might help some of the 50 million Americans who are experiencing chronic painon May 10, 2024 at 5:28 am
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced in late April 2024 that it plans to ease federal restrictions on cannabis, reclassifying it from a Schedule I drug to the less restricted Schedule III, which ...
- Global Chronic Pain Management Market: Set to Reach US$168.68 Billion by 2031on May 9, 2024 at 4:09 pm
The Global Chronic Pain Management Market was valued at US$ 93.31 billion in 2022 and is expected to attain a market size of US$ 168.68 billion by 2031 at a CAGR of 6.8% During the Forecast Period ...
- Myalgia (Muscle Pain)on May 9, 2024 at 2:31 pm
Myalgia is the medical term for muscle pain, which may cause symptoms like muscle stiffness, weakness, cramps, and swelling in your body.
- Ouch: Nearly 1 in 3 Americans live in constant painon May 9, 2024 at 1:51 pm
A recent survey brought to light a concerning health issue affecting the United States: nearly one-third of Americans report living with constant pain.
- This strange brain reaction to pain is called ‘muscle guarding’on May 9, 2024 at 6:47 am
In muscle guarding, the brain seeks to protect an injured area by subconsciously directing the surrounding muscles to not function, or to lock.
- Tele-mentoring program shows promise in addressing opioid reliance for chronic pain managementon May 7, 2024 at 11:07 pm
More Americans suffer from chronic pain than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined. Yet, a shortage of pain medicine specialists persists, causing many pain sufferers to seek care in primary ...
- Woman who suffers with chronic pain wants to challenge the stigma that comes with having chronic pain at a young ageon May 7, 2024 at 7:13 am
Abigail Stone has suffered with chronic pain for six years. She wants to reframe the profile of what people perceive chronic pain sufferers to be.
via Bing News