Low back pain is a leading cause of job-related disability and missed workdays in the U.S. Unfortunately, the overall treatment effectiveness is significantly limited by our poor diagnostic capability, which fails to identify nociceptive sources in 80% to 90% of the cases. In this work, we introduce a PET/MRI approach for low back pain diagnosis using a novel radioligand to track the sigma-1 receptor, which is upregulated during nociceptive processes. Our early results demonstrate promise in achieving improved sensitivity and specificity to the local sources of low back pain.
This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.