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Published on: March 8, 2024
Evaluating key features of assessment tools for post-amputation pain: a scoping review
Katleho Limakatso1, Franklin Ndhlovu2, Eithne McGowan3
1Pain Management Unit, Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Purpose:
Accurate assessment of Post-Amputation Pain (PAP) is essential for guiding appropriate clinical management and monitoring treatment outcomes. However, there is no established guidance on core assessment domains for PAP, which may result in clinicians and researchers overlooking pain domains that are critical for monitoring treatment efficacy. This review aimed to identify key features of assessment tools used to measure PAP in clinical trials.
Methods:
Articles published until June 2025 were identified through a systematic search of the following databases: PubMed (MEDLINE) via EBSCOhost, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature) via EBSCOhost, and PsycINFO via EBSCOhost. Two reviewers independently conducted the screening of titles and abstracts, review of full-text articles, and data extraction. The results were analyzed descriptively.
Results:
We identified 15 tools used to assess PAP across 158 clinical trials. Together, the tools assessed pain intensity, quality, frequency, duration, temporal pattern, location, interference, easing and aggravating factors, and response to treatment. There were inconsistencies in the assessment of these domains across the included studies.
Conclusion:
There is a lack of comprehensive tools specifically designed for assessing PAP. Establishing consensus on core measurement domains for PAP is a necessary step toward developing a robust, comprehensive, and validated tool with strong clinical utility.
