Method and Apparatus for Diagnosing and Assessing Centralized Pain

Abstract

Methods for central pain diagnosis and assessment, symptom severity prediction, and therapeutic intervention effect determination. The diagnosis and assessment method includes a statistical comparison between a subject's quantitative brain function assessment and either a database of quantitative assessments of brain functions of healthy individuals, or a database of quantitative assessments of brain functions of individuals known to have been suffering from chronic pain as a result of the abnormal brain function condition. Diagnosis and assessment may be accomplished using a neuroimaging device to sense and generate images representing central nervous system function, using a sensory stimulation device to stimulate brain activities associated with central sensitivity, and using a computing device to command the sensory stimulation device and neuroimaging device to test for the presence of central pain.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.