We use this information to learn how patients with visceral diseases should be treated. We are also studying spinal cord stimulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and pharmacological interventions to find out how pain in patients can be reduced or eliminated. I have organized an International Working Group on Neurocardiology composed of clinical and basic scientists from Sweden, The Netherlands, Canada and the United States. This group is working together to determine how spinal cord stimulation reduces the pain of heart disease and improves cardiac function. These studies are supported by the National Institutes of Health and industrial contracts.
Visceral organs communicate with each other by activating intraspinal pathways.
Noxious information arising from the heart excites spinothalamic tract cells in spinal segments directly receiving cardiac input but suppress activity of spinothalamic tract cells located in distant segments of the spinal cord. We made a new discovery that upper cervical segments of the spinal cord are necessary for suppressing cell activity. Presently, we are doing experiments to describe the neural mechanisms that are involved with this processing of information in different regions of the spinal cord. These studies will elucidate how a spinal and supraspinal neuron systems interact to suppress cell activity. These studies and future investigation may explain how to provide effective pain relief in patients.