Assessing Nociception by fMRI of the Human Spinal Cord: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE To assess the use of fMRI of the spinal cord in measuring noxious stimulation. METHODS The Scopus, Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were searched, along with the reference lists of included articles. Two independent reviewers screened abstracts, full-text articles, and extracted data. Original research was included if fMRI of the human spinal cord was used to measure responses to noxious stimulation. RESULTS Of the 192 abstracts screened, 19 met the search criteria and were divided according to their focus: investigating pain responses (n = 6), methodology (n = 6), spinal cord injury (n = 2), or cognition–pain interactions (n = 5). All but one study appear to have observed activity in ipsilateral and dorsal gray matter regions in response to noxious stimuli, although contralateral or ventral activity was also widely observed. CONCLUSIONS Although nociception can be investigated using spinal fMRI, establishing reliability, standardizing methodology, and reporting of results will greatly advance this field.