A Quantitative Sensory Testing Paradigm to Obtain Measures of Pain Processing in Patients Undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery

Noud van Helmond, Hans Timmerman, Søren S Olesen, Asbjørn M Drewes, Joris Kleinhans, Oliver H Wilder-Smith, Kris C Vissers, Monique A Steegers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Chronic pain following surgery, persistent postsurgical pain, is an important highly prevalent condition contributing to significant symptom burden and lower quality of life. Persistent postsurgical pain is relatively refractory to treatment hence generating a high need for preventive strategies and treatments. Therefore, the identification of patients at risk of developing persistent pain is an area of active ongoing research. Recently it was demonstrated that peri-operative disruptions in central pain processing may be able to predict persistent postsurgical pain at long term follow-up in breast cancer patients. The aim of the current report is to present a short protocol to obtain pain thresholds to different stimuli at multiple sites and a measure of endogenous analgesia in breast cancer patients. We have used this method successfully in a clinical context and detail some representative results from a clinical study.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Visualized Experiments
Issue number131
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Breast/surgery
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mastectomy/adverse effects
  • Pain Measurement/methods
  • Pain, Postoperative/diagnosis
  • Quality of Life

Cite this