Chronic pelvic pain is a highly prevalent pain condition among women, but it is quite challenging to determine the exact cause of pain. MRI is currently the imaging modality of choice, but even the most common etiology is very difficult to identify. In this abstract, we introduce a novel PET/MRI approach for chronic pelvic pain diagnosis to achieve improved sensitivity by enabling image tracking of sigma-1 receptor, a chaperone protein modulating ion channels for activating nociceptive processes. Our early results present promising results in identifying potential pain generators of chronic pelvic pain, which could not be detected in MRI alone.
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