Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
A Protocol of Manual Tests to Measure Sensation and Pain in Humans
Published on: December 19, 2016
Pain profiling in migraine: a systematic review of Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST), Conditioned Pain Modulation
Floor Clarissa van Welie1, Albert Dahan2, Monique van Velzen2
1Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. 9600, Leiden, 2300 WB, The Netherlands.
Objective:
The aim of this systematic review is to identify pain profiling parameters that are reliably different between patients with migraine and healthy controls, using Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) including Temporal Summation (TS), Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM), and Corneal Confocal Microscopy (CCM).
Methods:
A comprehensive literature search was conducted (up to 23 May 2024). The quality of the research was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for non-randomized studies.
Results:
Twenty-eight studies were included after screening. The QST studies indicate that migraine patients exhibit lower pressure pain thresholds (PPT), particularly in the trigeminal region. A previous meta-analysis reported lower heat pain thresholds (HPT). CPM studies suggest a (mild) inhibitory or absent response in migraine patients, not different from controls. High-frequency and chronic migraine patients may exhibit a facilitatory CPM response. With repeated executions of CPM, migraine patients display a diminishing CPM response, a phenomenon not observed in control subjects. CCM investigations in migraine patients revealed conflicting outcomes, likely as a result of small sample sizes and limited characterization of migraine features.
Conclusion:
Pain profiling migraine patients varies due to sensory modality, applied methods, anatomical sites, and migraine features. Understanding pain profiling offers insights into migraine pathophysiology, requiring careful selection of parameters and differentiation among migraine subtypes.
