A blood test for pain? New work in Nature identifies circulating biomarkers that distinguish chronic pain states—offering a path toward objective, biologically grounded diagnostics. #PainResearch #Neuroskyence #Biomarkers #ScienceWatch #SciComm #ScienceInTranslation #ChronicPain
Marvellous. Then - I consider my 30 years treating chronic pain & addictions; I recall psychiatric resistance in the 90s about traumatic stress as common pathway to a spectrum of mental health problems; I recall failing cognisance of the microbiome as seat for chronic inflammation... 'orthodoxy'.
Or doctors could just believe their patients...
Nice try 😏 That would be Sackler‘s Dream. „Doc, I have lower back pain, it‘s really bad, I need some fentanyl.“ - „Sure, have some patches!“ Seriously: having biomarkers would enable a diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation of pain nature and intensity, which could guide therapies.
This! If you read the paper they also were able to ID potential therapeutics based on the biomarkers. Spoiler, the therapeutics were not traditional analgesics. Though something like this is years (maybe even decades) from the clinic, this is huge first step!
This has potential…
📌bloodtest chronic pain