Predicting neuropathic pain episodes in spinal cord injury patients through portable EEG and machine learning

Informazioni relative al progetto

Pain_App

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101030384

DOI

10.3030/101030384

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 30 Marzo 2021

Data di avvio 1 Aprile 2021

Data di completamento 31 Marzo 2023

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Costo totale

€ 203 852,16

Contributo UE

€ 203 852,16

Coordinato da

MALMO UNIVERSITET
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Pain_App (Predicting neuropathic pain episodes in spinal cord injury patients through portable EEG and machine learning)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-04-01 al 2023-03-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common symptom arising as a direct consequence of a lesion or disease affecting the somatosensory system. The traditional approach to managing NP patients is to initiate treatment with conservative pharmacological therapy before interventional strategies. However, first-line drug treatments have shown modest efficacy with less than 50% of pain relief. Since NP is present in ~70% of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), people with this pathology represent a reliable population to study NP. Interestingly, previous studies have shown a clear correlation between NP and changes in electroencephalography (EEG), which is a good indicator of the state of the central nervous system. Characterized and developed technology to calculate NP would have a great impact on the quality of life of the patients. Personalized pharmacological treatments would increase their efficacy. PAIN_App is built in state-of-the-art digital health technology (a smartphone app, smartwatch, and a portable EEG) and aims to identify the biosignals that determine the intensity of NP in SCI. Based on initial analysis, the data collected has shown a moderate correlation to some features of the EEG, however, more analysis are currently being conducting

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

The project Pain_App is still developing but has been successfully integrated with the Mobistudy App. Moreover, Pain_App has been understood and executed correctly by the patients. The project has faced challenges regarding the feasibility of the technology rather the complexity on the performance by the patients, which have provided with positive feedback. Data analysis is still running; however, the MSCA fellow has been very fruitful in presenting preliminary data (1 poster at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and 2 conference papers at the 11 th International Conference on the Internet of Things and EAI PervasiveHealth).
In addition, Pain_App has had a great impact in the career of the fellow since it has allowed her to secure a faculty position at the University of Seville, Spain.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

Pain_App is still defining accurate biomarkers related with the neuropathic pain. Once it will be defined, the fellow will proceed for testing the tech in real life.

Paper