Editor’s note: This is the 23rd in a series of weekly PRF seminars designed to help keep the pain research community connected during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide all members of our community with virtual educational opportunities. The seminar series is supported by the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, US, and this particular seminar was also supported by the Pfizer-Lilly Alliance.
On October 28, the IASP Pain Research Forum hosted a seminar with Nurcan Üçeyler, MD, University of Würzburg, Germany. A Q&A session moderated by Winfried Häuser, MD, Klinikum Saarbrücken, Germany, followed the presentation.
A recording of this webinar will soon be freely available to IASP members at the IASP Pain Education Resource Center (PERC).
Here is an abstract from the presenter
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by chronic widespread pain accompanied by additional symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disturbance and depression. While the pathophysiology remains unknown, evidence is increasing for a potential contribution of the peripheral nervous system to FMS pain. In this context, several studies reported an impairment of thinly-myelinated A-delta fibers and unmyelinated C-fibers in terms of small fiber pathology in subgroups of FMS patients. In this seminar, current literature on a potential role of small fiber pathology in FMS pain will be reviewed critically and discussed actively with the audience. This discussion shall lead to mind-changing new perspectives on FMS pain.
About the presenter
Nurcan Üçeyler is a neurologist and neuroscientist in the Department of Neurology, University of Würzburg, Germany, where she is a Heisenberg-Professor for Translational Somatosensorics. Her research field is the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain, small-fiber pathology, and neuropathies. Together with her team, Üçeyler combines clinical and basic science research using advanced clinical, in vivo, and in vitro models to investigate pain and neuropathy conditions such as small-fiber neuropathy, fibromyalgia, and genetic pain syndromes.
About the moderator
Winfried Häuser is a specialist in general internal medicine, psychosomatic medicine, and pain medicine. He is a consultant for gastroenterology, hepatology, and pain/palliative care medicine, Department of Internal Medicine I, Klinikum Saarbrücken, Germany. He is a senior consultant at the Health Care Center for Pain Medicine and Mental Health Saarbrücken, and offers special consultant hours for patients with fibromyalgia and chronic abdominal pain. Häuser is an adjunct professor of psychosomatic medicine at the Technical University Munich, Germany. His areas of research are psychosomatic aspects of bowel diseases, functional somatic syndromes (fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pelvic pain), and evidence-based medicine and health care research. He is co-editor of the Cochrane Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group. He is the head of the steering committee for the German guidelines on fibromyalgia and opioids in chronic non-cancer pain and a member of the steering group for the EULAR recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia. Häuser is the head of the EFIC task force for a position paper on cannabis-based medicines for chronic pain, and on opioids for chronic noncancer pain. He has published more than 200 papers on chronic pain conditions (celiac disease, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome) in peer-reviewed journals including systematic reviews on pharmacological, psychological, physical and complementary/alternative therapies for chronic pain conditions.
Join the conversation about the seminar on Twitter @PainResForum #PRFSeminar
We thank the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, US, for its support of the PRF seminar series, and the Pfizer-Lilly Alliance for its support of this particular seminar.
