Pain Research
Lead Contacts: Dr Suellen Walker & Dr Richard Howard
Babies and children may experience pain as a result of illness or its treatment. Evidence for effective pain management is increasing, particularly for the management of pain after surgery. Ongoing research is required to more fully understand how the nervous system processes pain, particularly in early development, in order to determine the most effective and safest analgesic treatments for children of different ages. In addition, the best ways to assess pain, particularly in young pre-verbal or communication-impaired children are being evaluated. We also work with other specialist teams to improve the understanding and multidisciplinary management of children with chronic pain.
Members of the Portex Unit Pain Research Group are involved in laboratory and clinical research investigating the effects, assessment and management of pain throughout childhood. The research questions have frequently arisen from the team’s clinical experience in acute and chronic pain management, and our aim is to translate research findings into improvements in clinical practice.
For more details on Pain Service at GOSH click here.
Our publications can be found via the UCL Discovery website or click here.
To see profile of Dr Suellen Walker, click here.
Lauriane Harrington (UCL MSci Natural Sciences 2010) has won the ENP Photo Competition 2011 (www.paris-neuroscience.fr) for her picture ‘From the opium poppy to the opioid receptor’. Lower image represents staining for mu opioid receptor in the adult spinal cord following exposure to morphine in early life. Supervisor: S Walker
Aims
▪ Understanding pain processing during postnatal development
▪ Exploration of the impact of developmental age on the mechanisms and efficacy of analgesia
▪ Investigation of the potential long-term effects of pain and different forms of injury in early life
▪ Improving the assessment and measurement of pain
▪ Evaluating current evidence, and development and implementation of guidelines for the management of acute procedural and postoperative pain
▪ Evaluation of treatment strategies for chronic pain in children and adolescents
Current Projects
▪ Mechanisms, presentation and treatment of neuropathic pain
▪ Efficacy and toxicity of spinally administered analgesia
▪ Mechanisms and impact of long-term sensory changes following surgical injury in early life
▪ Developmental opioid pharmacology
▪ Risk factors for opioid-related side-effects
▪ Changes in sensory processing and coping strategies in children with chronic pain
Page last modified on 13 feb 13 15:37
