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Quantitative Sensory Testing to Predict Postoperative Pain
Matthias Braun1, Corina Bello1, Thomas Riva1
1Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010, Bern, Switzerland.
Purpose Of Review:
We review the relevance of quantitative sensory testing (QST) in light of acute and chronic postoperative pain and associated challenges.
Recent Findings:
Predicting the occurrence of acute and chronic postoperative pain with QST can help identify patients at risk and allows proactive preventive management. Generally, central QST testing, such as temporal summation of pain (TSP) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM), appear to be the most promising modalities for reliable prediction of postoperative pain by QST. Overall, QST testing has the best predictive value in patients undergoing orthopedic procedures. Current evidence underlines the potential of preoperative QST to predict postoperative pain in patients undergoing elective surgery. Implementing QST in routine preoperative screening can help advancing traditional pain therapy toward personalized perioperative pain medicine.
