The Neuroanatomical Correlates of Visceral Pain: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis
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MDPI
Abstract
Background: Acute visceral pain is among the most common symptoms of
patients seeking in-hospital treatment and is related to various thoracic, abdominal, and
pelvic diseases. It is characterized by distinguishable sensory qualities and can be described
on a sensory-discriminative and affective-motivational level. These sensory qualities correlate
with the activation of cerebral areas involved in the neuronal processing of visceral
pain and can be visualized using functional neuroimaging. Methods: An ALE (activation
likelihood estimation) meta-analysis of a total of 21 studies investigating different balloon
distention paradigms during either PET or fMRI was performed to demonstrate the neuroanatomical
correlates of visceral pain. The ALE meta-analysis was performed using
the GingerAle software version 3.0.2 and was displayed with the Mango software 4.1 on
an anatomical MNI template. Results: Summarizing studies investigating the functional
neuroanatomy of visceral pain, bihemispheric activation of the insula, the thalamus, and
clusters involving the right inferior parietal lobe/postcentral gyrus as well as the left postcentral
gyrus/parietal inferior lobe were observed. Conclusions: This ALE meta-analysis
substantiates the concept of two distinguishable neuroanatomical pathways of visceral
pain which are related to either the sensory-discriminative or the affective-motivational
dimension of pain processing.
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Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 4.0 International