Why pain biomarkers cannot replace the patient experience

Jan Vollert; Esther Pogatzki-Zahn; Joletta Belton; Sam Hughes; Luis Garcia-Larrea; Winfried Meissner; Andrew S. C. Rice; Deidre Ryan; Daniel Segelcke; Katy Vincent; Rolf-Detlef Treede; Kai Karos

doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02324-x

Why pain biomarkers cannot replace the patient experience

Jan Vollert^*
, Esther Pogatzki-Zahn
, Joletta Belton
, Sam Hughes
, Luis Garcia-Larrea
, Winfried Meissner
, Andrew S. C. Rice
, Deidre Ryan
, Daniel Segelcke
, Katy Vincent
, Rolf-Detlef Treede
, Kai Karos

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Using neuroimaging to understand the mechanisms of pain is an important task. But we must understand that the gold standard of measuring pain will always be the self-report.

Original language	English
Number of pages	3
Journal	Nature Neuroscience
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02324-x
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 1 Jun 2026

Access to Document

10.1038/s41593-026-02324-x

Cite this

@article{f2539a81b05845d8b5a3086d696a1d26,

title = "Why pain biomarkers cannot replace the patient experience",

abstract = "Using neuroimaging to understand the mechanisms of pain is an important task. But we must understand that the gold standard of measuring pain will always be the self-report.",

author = "Jan Vollert and Esther Pogatzki-Zahn and Joletta Belton and Sam Hughes and Luis Garcia-Larrea and Winfried Meissner and Rice, \{Andrew S. C.\} and Deidre Ryan and Daniel Segelcke and Katy Vincent and Rolf-Detlef Treede and Kai Karos",

year = "2026",

month = jun,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/s41593-026-02324-x",

language = "English",

journal = "Nature Neuroscience",

issn = "1097-6256",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Why pain biomarkers cannot replace the patient experience

AU - Vollert, Jan

AU - Pogatzki-Zahn, Esther

AU - Belton, Joletta

AU - Hughes, Sam

AU - Garcia-Larrea, Luis

AU - Meissner, Winfried

AU - Rice, Andrew S. C.

AU - Ryan, Deidre

AU - Segelcke, Daniel

AU - Vincent, Katy

AU - Treede, Rolf-Detlef

AU - Karos, Kai

PY - 2026/6/1

Y1 - 2026/6/1

N2 - Using neuroimaging to understand the mechanisms of pain is an important task. But we must understand that the gold standard of measuring pain will always be the self-report.

AB - Using neuroimaging to understand the mechanisms of pain is an important task. But we must understand that the gold standard of measuring pain will always be the self-report.

U2 - 10.1038/s41593-026-02324-x

DO - 10.1038/s41593-026-02324-x

M3 - Editorial

SN - 1097-6256

JO - Nature Neuroscience

JF - Nature Neuroscience

IS - 7

ER -

Why pain biomarkers cannot replace the patient experience

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this