Brain Connectivity Predicts Placebo Response in Chronic Pain Patients

“Placebo responses have a representation in the central nervous system and in the future it is possible that a patient’s likelihood to respond to placebo treatment can be predicted in clinical trials, thus changing the way clinical trials are designed and interpreted,” she concluded.

Dr. Baliki and coauthor Dr. A. Vania Apkarian did not respond to a request for comments.

Reference

Tétreault P, Mansour A, Vachon-Presseau E, et al. Brain Connectivity Predicts Placebo Response across Chronic Pain Clinical Trials. PLoS Biol. 2016 Oct 27;14(10):e1002570.