Chronic

A new understanding of the way tarantula toxins shut down electrical signals in the spider’s prey has given scientists hope of recreating this effect, but in a positive way through advanced drugs that treat chronic pain.

For some time now, bacteria-killing ozone gas has been used to help heal chronic wounds such as diabetic skin ulcers. Such treatment could soon be a lot more practical and effective, thanks to an experimental new wearable system.

Two new imaging breakthroughs demonstrate a PET/MRI approach to locate specific locations of chronic pain in a patient, and a full-body scanner that can visualize the complete systemic burden of inflammatory arthritis for the very first time.

New research describes the successful results of animal studies testing a novel experimental peptide designed to inhibit the receptors responsible for chronic neuropathic pain. The research is now moving towards initial human trials.

For decades, sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome have battled to prove this illness is not a psychological condition, but in fact an actual biological disease. Now a team has developed a new type of blood test that could offer doctors the first diagnostic tool to identify it.

A study is proposing a compelling hypothesis to explain the biological genesis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The research suggests the still mysterious condition is initially triggered by an overactive immune system and may help identify those patients most at risk of developing the illness.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is one of those big unsolved medical mysteries but scientists from Columbia University is bringing us closer to understanding this elusive disorder. They've found a specific metabolic fingerprint for the condition that could lead to a new diagnostic tool for doctors.

The results of one of the longest in-depth studies examining cannabis use and chronic pain is raising doubts over whether cannabis reduces pain severity or opioid use. The study is proving controversial as its findings contradict a growing body of research suggesting exactly the opposite.

​A blood test that can identify chronic pain has been developed by a team of Australian researchers. The test can identify color changes in immune cells affected by chronic pain and give doctors a new way to diagnose the severity of pain in patients unable to adequately communicate it.

For people suffering from chronic pain conditions, conventional painkillers often aren’t effective. Now, a new hope for relief might have been found in the strange case of an Italian family, who all have a genetic mutation that makes them feel almost no pain at all.

Researchers at Stanford University have recently made a major breakthrough in pinning down the physiological origins of chronic fatigue syndrome, which may pave the way to developing a blood test that could diagnose this mysterious malady.

A British research team has happened upon a technique that promises to cut the healing time of chronic wounds by a third, using simple low-intensity ultrasounds.