Dr. Melanie Noel and the PEAK Research Lab team welcome you!
Pain Education, Advocacy, Knowledge
Pain after Surgery Study (PASS)
How children remember pain sets the stage for future pain experiences. These memories can easily become distorted.
Negatively-biased pain memories (remembering pain as being worse than it actually was) are associated with the development of pediatric chronic pain.
The issue:
Treatments for pediatric chronic pain are largely ineffective, in part because we do not understand why acute pain transitions to chronic pain in the first place.
What we need to know:
Children's memories of post-surgical pain can lead to chronic pain; however, it is not known how the brain is involved in pain memory biases or the development of chronic pain after surgery in youth.
What's next:
Given the key role of children’s pain memories in the development of chronic pain, and the urgent need for prevention and treatment targets, this research will be critical in helping to understand and prevent this widespread child health issue.
