House Call: Acute, Chronic Pain Relief may be on the Way
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Researchers have discovered a pain relieving circuit in the skin. It suggests new help could be found for the millions of Americans who suffer from acute or chronic pain. Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in CNN Center now with the details on all of this in his morning "House Call." Good morning to you -- Sanjay.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Yes, you know, 30 million people suffer from acute or chronic pain, so a very significant problem in the world of medicine. And typically when we think of pain, we think of it actually being regulated by either the spinal cord or the brain, not the skin, which we typically think of just as a protective barrier from the elements outside. So, here is an interesting finding. Researchers in Boston at the Brigham hospital have found that the skin actually lets go of a particular chemical, which cuts down on the amount of pain. So, right at the site of injury this particular chemical actually regulates the pain that we feel, so when we injure ourselves we may not be actually experiencing the true level of pain. Now, why is this important? This is important because if you can somehow figure out what this chemical is and somehow harness its potential you might be able to treat pain very locally. This has been a big problem for pain researchers for quite sometime. Obviously, most of the pain medications that people use now are more designed to target the whole body as opposed to a smart drug which can target local pain. Take a look at the list of some of the medications that are out there now. When you think about these medications, Tylenol which is acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, cox-2 inhibitors, even antidepressants, of course narcotics for severe pain which can cause nausea and vomiting and things like that. This might be the avenue to a smart drug down the road, Heidi. It's not here yet, but we're definitely going to keep an eye on it.</s>COLLINS: Oh, I bet people will be so excited to hear that. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta in this morning's "House Call." Thanks, Sanjay.</s>GUPTA: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.