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Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Electrophysiological Measurements and Analysis of Nociception in Human Infants
Published on: December 20, 2011
Neonatal procedural pain can be assessed by computer software that has good sensitivity and specificity to detect
Tatiany Marcondes Heiderich1, Ana Teresa Figueiredo Stochero Leslie, Ruth Guinsburg
1Division of Neonatal Medicine, Department of Paediatrics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Aim:
The difficulty in assessing pain during the neonatal period is one of the main obstacles for appropriate analgesia in intensive care units. The aim of this study was to develop and validate computer software to monitor neonatal facial movements of pain in real time.
Methods:
The software was developed in the Delphi integrated development environment and provides real-time image analysis during monitoring, based on image recognition of pain-related facial actions. To validate the software performance, facial images were obtained during the monitoring of 30 neonates who were subjected to painful procedures related to daily care management. Of the 5644 images identified and analysed by the software, 360 images - 12 per infant - were randomly selected and assessed by six healthcare professionals with experience of recognising neonatal pain.
Results:
The agreement between the examiners and the software assessment was excellent (κ = 0.975). The software exhibited 85% sensitivity and 100% specificity in detecting neutral facial expressions in the resting state and 100% sensitivity and specificity in detecting pain during painful procedures.
Conclusion:
It is possible to assess neonatal procedural pain using computer software that has good sensitivity and specificity to detect facial movements.
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