Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42436822›Full record

ArticleContemporary clinical trials communications2026

Brain mechanisms supporting mindfulness-based chronic pain relief: A randomized, sham-mindfulness meditation controlled mechanistic clinical trial protocol.

Jon G Dean, Alessandro Allen, Daniel Barrows, Julia Birenbaum, Joel Castellanos, Krishnan Chakravarthy, Conan Chen, Gael F Cruanes, Subber Dhillon, Yasmeen Esshaki and 15 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Contemporary clinical trials communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03354585 (Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness-based Chronic Pain Relief), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03354585 nacompletednot on this map

Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness-based Chronic Pain Relief

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of California, San DiegoRan2020 to 2024Enrolled120ConditionsChronic Low Back PainArmsmindfulness training, non-mindfulness training, book-listening
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

25 authors.

Jon G DeanDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Alessandro AllenDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Daniel BarrowsDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Julia BirenbaumDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Joel CastellanosDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Krishnan ChakravarthyDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Conan ChenDepartment of Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Gael F CruanesDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Subber DhillonDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Yasmeen EsshakiDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Richard FuentesDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Timothy FurnishDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Morgan GianolaDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Aaron JacobsonDepartment of Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Hyun-Chung KimDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Lora KhatibDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Thomas LiuDepartment of Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Carolina LopezDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Jennifer MillerDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Dwayne MosbeyDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Valeria OlivaDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Marta PattersonDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Gabriel RiegnerDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mark WallaceDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Fadel ZeidanDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is a leading cause of disability worldwide and is frequently refractory to pharmacological treatment. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce pain through modulation of self-referential, cognitive and affective mechanisms. However, the neural mechanisms supporting the direct and immediate modulation of movement-evoked cLBP by mindfulness meditation as compared to an appropriate placebo-control remain poorly characterized. Methods and analysis: This single-center, sham-mindfulness meditation-controlled mechanistic clinical trial randomized 120 meditation naïve adults with cLBP to a six-session (20 min/session) mindfulness meditation, sham-mindfulness meditation, or book-listening control intervention delivered over two weeks. Perfusion fMRI was acquired at pre- and post-intervention timepoints during pain evocation with the leg raise test (LRT), a standardized orthopedic maneuver used to evoke low back and/or radiating leg pain in individuals with lumbar pathology. The primary outcome was change in whole-brain cerebral blood flow. Secondary outcomes included change in numerical pain ratings (0 = no pain; 10 = worst pain imaginable) corresponding to the LRT. Planned analyses include mixed-effects models examining group-by-time effects on behavioral and neuroimaging outcomes. Discussion: By integrating a clinically relevant movement-evoked pain paradigm with perfusion-based neuroimaging and a matched sham meditation control, this trial will isolate mindfulness-specific neural mechanisms underlying pain modulation to inform the design of future efficacy-focused clinical trials. Ethics and dissemination: The study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03354585) was approved by the University of California, San Diego Institutional Review Board (IRB#181814). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. At the time of manuscript submission, recruitment and intervention delivery were complete and data analyses ongoing. Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and scientific conferences.

Identifiers

PMID42436822
PMCPMC13355023

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.