IMAGING NEUROINFLAMMATION WORKSHOP

This  workshop was for Physicians only and by invitation only. 

American RSDHope was excited to play a small part in helping to fund this workshop that was put together by the RSDSA. Also  providing funding were such organizations as; The TMJ Association, National Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Association, National Spasmodic Torticollis, Facial Pain Association, and several others. The RSDSA committed a great deal of the funds raised from several of their programs this year towards this program. There were also thousands in private donations and many corporations  also jumped on board. It has exciting and amazing potential for a wide variety of neurological and pain diseases. 

What exactly was it all about? 

In a nutshell Dr Mark Cooper, University of Washington, explains it well;
During the past 20 years, numerous neuropathologies have been linked to the activation of neuroimmune responses in the CNS.   Microglia and astroglia, two types of glial cells, are key cellular mediators of these neuroinflammatory responses.   Activated microglia have been linked to Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and chronic neuropathic pain disorders.  Activated microglia have also been found in the brains of autistic children.  Recently, patients with schizophrenia have been found to respond well to pharmacological agents that attenuate activated microglia.  Widespread evidence now indicates that a large range of neurodegenerative, pain, motor, and affective disorders involve neuroinflammatory processes mediated in part by activated glia.

New radiological and biophotonic imaging methods have been developed to image activated glia in the central nervous system.   In addition, magnetic nanoparticles have been developed to image leukocyte infiltration into the central nervous system.  

Overall, these imaging methods open new clinical approaches to: 

(a) detect and diagnosis neuroinflammation; and (b) assess the efficacy of therapies aimed at controlling neuroinflammation. 

It took place October 13-15, 2011 in Albuquerque, NM. 

The Organizers were;

Mark Cooper (University of Washington)
Vince Clark (University of New Mexico)
Erin Milligan (University of New Mexico)

What an amazing amount of information was packed into those days!

The topics ranged from; 
THURSDAY - Social Dimensions of Pain, Medical Education in Opioids in the Management of Pain, Migraine Pain and Forming Partnerships with ECHO, National Perspectives in Continuing Medical Education for Pain, Forming a Neuroinflammation Knowledge Consortium, Keynote Address - The Toll of Opioid-Induced Glial Activation: Improving the Clinical Efficacy of Opioids by Targeting Glia; 

FRIDAY - MRI, Neuroinflammation, and Pain Processing, Imaging Pain with fMRI, Central Mechanisms of Pain: fMRI Analysis, Altered Brain Functional Connectivity of Patients with CRPS: a fMRI Study, Imaging Neuroinflammatory Processes with MRI and Nanoparticles, PET and SPECT Imaging of Neuroinflammation, PET and SPECT Imaging of Neuroinflammation Spinal Inflammation in Neuropathic Pain, SPECT/PET Imaging Probes for Inflammation, Next Generation of SPECT/PET Imaging Tools, Combining Nanobodies and SPECT for Molecular and Cellular Imaging of Inflammation, Visualizing Neuroinflammation in Bioluminescent Transgenic Animals, Imaging the Spread of CRPS with Thermography, Keynote Address- Visualizing the Complex Dynamics of Neuropathic Pain;

SATURDAY - Clinical Applications of Neuroinflammation Imaging; Neuropathic Pain: Medical Compensation Issues; and ending on the last day, last topic with a panel discussion on "What needs to be done to translate imaging technologies from lab to clinical research; from clinical research to clinical practice?"


Unfortunately this Workshop was not open to patients but we will be sure to share their findings on our website as soon as possible! They are putting together a synopsis as we speak. 

Peace, 
American RSDHope