Chronic pain, persisting for more than three months, is the most prevalent health condition globally, affecting 18-26% of the population. Its costs consume more healthcare resources in Europe than all cardiovascular diseases combined. The greatest challenge is understanding why certain patients respond to specific therapies while others do not. Pain treatments often involve side effects and require weeks to months before benefits become evident, leaving patients with ineffective therapies facing unnecessary delays and prolonged disability.Regardless of cause, chronic pain induces abnormal brain communication, disrupted connectivity. Scientific evidence shows that symptoms of neurological and psychiatric disorders stem from altered functional connectivity across brain networks. Effective treatments can relieve symptoms and partially restore these abnormal patterns.
PersoNINpain personalizes chronic pain treatment based on individual brain connectivity profiles using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). rTMS is a non-invasive technique using electromagnetic pulses to modulate neural activity in targeted brain regions. Originally developed for depression, rTMS is now included in clinical guidelines for chronic pain patients not achieving relief from conventional therapies. It's well-tolerated with fewer side effects than pharmacological treatments.
However, rTMS remains only partially effective: 60% of patients benefit significantly while 40% do not, likely due to mismatches between therapy mechanisms and individual brain dysfunction. Since rTMS can target different brain areas with distinct neural circuits, matching stimulation targets to specific dysfunction patterns is critical.
PersoNINpain introduces TMS-EEG, assessing patient brain connectivity before treatment to guide optimal rTMS delivery sites. By delivering brief magnetic pulses to cortical targets and recording brain oscillatory responses, researchers evaluate which areas generate robust, meaningful brain activity changes. This pre-treatment mapping classifies individual connectivity profiles and supports selection of effective brain targets for rTMS, overcoming current one-size-fits-all approaches.
Chronic pain is the world's most prevalent and burdensome disease. People with identical diagnoses experience different symptoms and treatment responses, explained by how pain reorganizes brain communication. Non-invasive neuromodulation like rTMS offers powerful, low-risk options for restoring healthy brain connectivity, but effectiveness has been limited by lack of personalization. PersoNINpain proposes using individualized brain connectivity profiles to guide neuromodulation and optimize outcomes, laying the foundation for personalized chronic pain treatment tailored to patients' unique brain physiology.
