Transforming MRI Data to Identify Biomarkers for Diagnosing and Treating Back Pain with Brent Ness Aclarion episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 10, 2026 · 19 MIN

Transforming MRI Data to Identify Biomarkers for Diagnosing and Treating Back Pain with Brent Ness Aclarion

from Empowered Patient Podcast · host Karen Jagoda

Brent Ness, CEO and President of Aclarion,  highlights the challenges of diagnosing and treating chronic lower back pain, a leading driver of healthcare costs and opioid addiction. Traditional MRI and CT imaging do not reveal the biochemical source of pain within spinal discs, leading to misdiagnosis and unsuccessful treatment. The Aclarion technology uses MR spectroscopy to measure pain-causing biomarkers and, through a cloud-based, AI-powered SaaS model, analyzes the raw data and sends the physician a report within minutes. Brent explains, "The diagnosis and accurate treatment planning of back pain are incredibly complex. And when you think about pain management physicians, rehab, all the way up to spine surgery identifying the source of pain accurately leads to better treatment and then obviously better outcomes.There are 266 million people around the world who suffer from chronic low back pain. So I'm not talking about the kind that you had a rough weekend skiing, golfing, or hiking, and you're a little sore. I'm talking about the kind that keeps people from participating in a meaningful life. " "When you think about the joints and the sources of blood flow, the nerves that are all around your spinal cord, the vertebral columns, and there's just a lot of moving parts and a lot of really, let's just call it high-value real estate that can actually be the source of pain. And really, our superpower is to help physicians see the invisible. Meaning that normally when you go to the doctor, and they do a workup on you, they'll use an MRI or a CT scanner. And those modalities are really good at pinpointing anatomical issues that might be causing pain. What we do is we use MR spectroscopy, not to make a picture of your back, but rather to measure the biomarker content inside the discs that are invisible on a normal MRI. And as it turns out, what's inside your disc can actually be the source of pain." #ACON #CLARITYtrial #lowbackpain #spinesurgery #MRSpectroscopy #Biomarkers #AugmentedIntelligence #innovation #ChronicPain #BackPain #MedicalTechnology #AI #HealthcareInnovation #SpineCare #MRI #PainManagement #DigitalHealth #Diagnostics #HealthTech #PatientCare aclarion.com Download the transcript here

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Transforming MRI Data to Identify Biomarkers for Diagnosing and Treating Back Pain with Brent Ness Aclarion

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