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Mechanical hyperalgesia in complex regional pain syndrome: a role for TNF-alpha?
Christian Maihöfner1, Hermann O Handwerker, Bernhard Neundörfer
1Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. maihoefner@physiologie1.uni-erlangen.de
Abstract:
Plasma concentrations of soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) receptor type I (sTNF-RI) were assessed in two complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) patient groups (n = 30 and n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 25). Patients with CRPS and mechanical hyperalgesia had higher levels of sTNF-RI (1,661.8 +/- 146.8 pg/mL) compared with those with CRPS with identical clinical appearance but without hyperalgesia (1,155.9 +/- 56.3 pg/mL) and controls (1,239.5 +/- 42.9 pg/mL). This study suggests involvement of TNF-alpha in mechanical hyperalgesia of CRPS.
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