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Chronic pain assessment using heat beam dolorimetry.
Jonathan J Lipman1, Bennett Blumenkopf, Winston C V Parris
1Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, TN 37232 U.S.A. Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, TN 37232 U.S.A. Department of Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, TN 37232 U.S.A. Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, TN 37232 U.S.A.
Pain
|July 1, 1987
Summary
Chronic pain patients exhibit higher pain tolerance. Neurosurgical procedures reduced pain perception to normal levels, indicating the heat beam dolorimeter (HBD) can objectively assess pain relief.
Area of Science:
- Pain research
- Neurology
- Medical instrumentation
Background:
- The heat beam dolorimeter (HBD) is a tool for measuring human cutaneous pain thresholds.
- Chronic pain significantly impacts patient quality of life and is often resistant to conventional treatments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if a patient's chronic pain status influences their pain tolerance to a heat beam dolorimeter stimulus.
- To evaluate the efficacy of neurosurgical procedures in alleviating chronic pain using the HBD.
Main Methods:
- Twenty-seven chronic pain patients underwent pre- and post-operative HBD testing.
- Pain tolerance thresholds were compared between chronic pain patients and healthy volunteers.
- Statistical analysis (Mann-Whitney U test) was used to compare pain thresholds.
Main Results:
- Pre-operatively, chronic pain patients demonstrated significantly higher pain tolerance thresholds than normal volunteers (P < 0.02).
- Post-operatively, patients' pain tolerance thresholds decreased, becoming comparable to those of volunteers (P > 0.05).
- Twenty-four out of 27 patients reported substantial pain relief after surgery.
Conclusions:
- Endogenous pain in chronic pain patients significantly affects their perception of incident pain, as measured by the HBD.
- The HBD shows potential as an objective tool for assessing chronic pain and its modulation by neurosurgical interventions.