Disruption of default mode network and salience network dynamics in acute traumatic pain states

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Persistent and chronic pain following acute musculoskeletal injury is a significant contributor to diminished quality of life. We correlated self-reported pain using the McGill Pain Questionnaire with resting-state brain network connectivity in patients with blunt chest trauma. Results suggest that both inferior parietal and insular cortex connectivity were positively correlated to greater self-reported pain and a region within the salient network showed a negative correlation. These results support the hypothesis that aberrant functioning of brain circuits that assign salience values to stimuli may contribute to pain perception. Understanding abnormal activity/connectivity may identify targets to prevent persistent and chronic pain.