Zunhammer, M, Bingel, U, Wager, Tor D., for the Placebo Imaging Consortium (2018). Placebo Effects on the Neurologic Pain Signature. A Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data. JAMA Neurol. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.2017

Key Points

• Question: How do placebo treatments affect pain processing in the brain?
• Findings: This systematic meta-analysis of single-participant functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 603 healthy participants from 20 studies found that placebo treatments against experimental pain have moderate effects on pain reports, but very small effects on the neurologic pain signature, a cerebral measure of nociceptive pain.
• Meaning: Placebo analgesia seems to be predominantly mediated by networks different from those underlying the primary processing of noxious stimuli.

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