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[Subjective perception of pain in local dermatological surgery].

INTRODUCTION: Pain is difficult to measure, as it has a significant subjective component. This symptom, and in particular its psycho-emotional component (fear prior to the operation and a feeling of release afterwards), has not been studied extensively. We decided to quantitatively evaluate its perception in local surgery, in relation to different moments during the operation and using the application of a topical anesthetic cream as an external variable. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The perception of pain was documented with a verbal assessment scale before and during anesthesia infiltration and immediately at the end of the operation by means of three questions: 1) How much do you think it is going to hurt?, 2) How much does it hurt? and 3) How much did it hurt? In addition, the application of EMLA (topical anesthetic cream) was randomized. RESULTS: 219 patients were studied. The scores for question 2 were significantly lower than the ones for question 1, and the scores for question 3 were significantly lower than the ones for questions 1 and 2. The patients treated with EMLA only gave lower scores than the controls in questions 2 and 3. DISCUSSION: Patients think that the surgery will hurt more than it really does, and they also immediately erase the memory of the recent pain. The use of EMLA does not modify the patient's idea of how much the operation will hurt, but the patient does perceive less pain than those who do not use it. It is important to reassure patients about their operations so that they do not become overly anxious about the procedures, thus minimizing their perception of pain. The use of a topical local anesthetic in the area of the surgery could help decrease the sensation of pain.

Adolescent↗

Children's perceptions of pain during 3 weeks of bone marrow transplant experience.

Most patients undergoing bone marrow transplant (BMT) experience severe pain. Because self-reporting is the most reliable source when assessing pain, it is important that health care providers understand how children perceive their pain and alleviating factors. The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory study was to understand children's perceptions of: (a) their BMT pain, (b) interventions effective in relieving their pain, and (c) caregivers' role in managing their pain. The sample consisted of 20 children (50% male), age 5 to 17 years, undergoing BMT. All study participants received continuous-infusion opioid therapy with additional boluses as needed for pain. Using investigator-developed structured interview guides, children were interviewed four times: on the day of transplant, then at three weekly intervals. Data were analyzed using a content analysis approach. In the first interview, children reported that when they hurt, they most commonly told someone. Several children used nonpharmacologic techniques to relieve pain. Although all had been told to expect some pain during BMT, only one-third of the children described the kinds of pain that they anticipated having during BMT. During subsequent interviews, the majority said that medication worked best to decrease their pain. In the final interview, most children said they still hurt. They reported pain predominantly in their mouth and throat, but mentioned seven other pain sites. Anecdotal comments included that pain management should be improved on the first BMT day and that nurses need to teach children that it is okay to use drugs for pain. Implications for clinical practice, education, and research are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Sensory thresholds for vibration, perception and pain in diabetic patients aged 15-50 years.

The sensory thresholds for vibration, perception and pain were measured in 375/395 of all diabetic patients aged 15-50 years in Umeå county (population 118,500), 79% of whom had type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). The results were compared with those from 100 healthy control subjects. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients had significantly elevated sensory thresholds compared to control subjects. In multiple regression analysis, patients with type 1 DM had significant associations between elevated sensory thresholds and age, duration of diabetes, height but not with smoking. Type 2 diabetic patients had a significant association only with height and control subjects with age and height. Thresholds were significantly higher in men than in women with type 1 and type 2 DM and in control subjects but were no longer significant after normalizing for height. Thus, age, duration of DM and tall stature appear to be major risk factors and smoking a minor risk factor for elevation of sensory thresholds both in type 1 and type 2 DM and also in healthy control subjects. Gender differences depend on differences in height.

Adolescent↗

Psychological factors and perceptions of pain associated with dental treatment.

Although pain during dental treatment has been identified as playing a major role in the onset of dental anxiety and is a major concern of patients when seeking dental care, there have been very few studies of the prevalence of pain during dental treatment and the factors associated with patients' perceptions of pain. This study used data from a longitudinal population-based study to assess the proportion of dental attenders who experienced pain while having dental treatment and the psychological characteristics which predisposed them to experience pain. Of 1422 subjects who completed questionnaires at baseline and five-year follow-up, 96.4% had visited a dentist over the observation period. Two fifths, 42.5%, reported having pain during treatment and one-fifth, 19.1%, had pain that was moderate to severe in intensity. Reports of pain were associated with the types of treatment received, and a number of baseline sociodemographic and psychological factors. In a logistic regression analysis predicting the probability of pain, a variable documenting the number of types of invasive treatment received (restorations, extractions, crowns/bridges, root canal therapy and periodontal treatment/surgery) had the strongest independent effect. Pain was also more likely to be reported by those with previous painful experiences and those who were anxious about dental treatment, expected treatment to be painful and felt that they had little control over the treatment process. Pain was less likely to be reported by those who said they were unwilling to accept or tolerate pain. Younger subjects and those with higher levels of education were more likely to report pain than older subjects and those with a lower educational level. These results indicate that pain is as much a cognitive and emotional construct as a physiological experience. They also have implications for dentists' behaviour when providing dental care.

Adolescent↗

Establishing a link between heart rate and pain in healthy subjects: a gender effect.

UNLABELLED: Heart rate (HR) is currently used by rehabilitation clinicians as a complementary objective measure of pain. The premise is that, as pain increases, HR should also increase. However, this relationship is not clearly established. The goal of this study was to verify the relationship between HR and pain perception. Thirty-nine healthy volunteers participated in this experimental study. Painful stimuli were induced by a 2-minute immersion of the hand in hot water (47 degrees C). HR was recorded before and during the stimulation and was matched to a pain rating. We observed a rise of 11% in HR after 2 minutes of immersion. There was a significant intrasubject correlation between HR and pain intensity (r = 0.50, P < .001) and pain unpleasantness (r = 0.55, P < .001). Furthermore, there was a strong gender effect in the intersubject correlations. Men presented a strong correlation between mean HR and mean pain perception (intensity: r = 0.77, unpleasantness: r = 0.86), whereas this relationship was absent in women (intensity: r = -0.2, unpleasantness: r = 0.001). In conclusion, results show that, for healthy volunteers, experimental pain can elicit a rise in HR up to 11%. Moreover, the relationship between HR response and pain is gender related. Considering that a positive relationship between HR and pain perception was only found in men, these results do not support a clinical significance of the use of HR for pain evaluation in women. Clinical implications need to be further evaluated with patients before clinicians can use HR as a complementary tool in pain assessment. PERSPECTIVE: A positive correlation between HR and pain was observed for men but not for women. These differences underline the importance of taking into account gender differences in the development of complementary pain assessment. Further research should be conducted to verify the role of sex hormones on heart rate and pain.

Adult↗

[Investigations on the effect of acupuncture on affective and sensory components of pain in patients with different stages of chronic pain].

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of acupuncture on the affective and sensory experience of pain in chronic pain patients. Furthermore, the study tried to estimate the therapeutical benefit of acupuncture in relation to the stage of chronic pain according to the Mainz pain staging system for chronic pain (MPSS). METHODS: Patients with chronic pain syndromes who received acupuncture treatment answered a standardized pain questionnaire before and after treatment. The questionnaire included the visual-analogue-scale for the intensity of pain, the pain perception scale for the assessment of affective and sensory components of pain perception, and addressed the patients to the three stages of chronic pain (MPSS). RESULTS: From April 1997 to October 1999, patients (n = 165) suffering from chronic headache and facial pain syndromes (23%), spine associated pain syndromes (48%) or other pain conditions (29%) were subsequently included. Treatment with acupuncture showed a more pronounced reduction of the affective assessment than of the sensory assessment of pain. These effects were particularly pronounced in patients assigned to stage 3 of chronic pain (MPSS). CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture in patients with high-stage chronic pain syndromes preferentially influences the affective dimension of pain perception. For the estimation of the overall clinical outcome of acupuncture treatment, a differentiation between affective and sensory components of pain is recommended.

Acupuncture Analgesia↗

Human brain processing and central mechanisms of pain as observed by electro- and magneto-encephalography.

We review the recent progress of electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to elucidate pain perception mechanisms in humans, since EEG and MEG have an excellent temporal resolution in order of msec. MEG is more useful to detect activated areas following painful stimulation, because the spatial resolution of EEG is not very high. For recording activities following Adelta fiber stimulation relating to the first pain, painful CO2 laser stimulation is now widely used, but our new method, epidermal stimulation (ES), is also very useful. The primary small activity was recorded from the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), probably in area 1, in the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulation. Then, secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) and insula were activated with the second activity in SI. These 3 regions were activated in parallel with almost the same time period. This is a very characteristic finding in pain perception. Then, the cingulate cortex and medial temporal area (MT) around the amygdala and hippocampus were activated. In the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulation as well, the above regions were activated, except for SI. Therefore, we speculated that SI plays a main role in localization of the stimulus point, the SII and insula are important sites for pain perception, and the cingulate and MT are mainly responsible for cognitive or emotional aspects of pain perception. For recording activities following C fiber stimulation relating to the second pain, we recently developed a new method, that is, applying weaker CO2 laser stimuli to tiny areas of the skin. MEG findings following C fiber stimulation were also similar to those following Adelta fiber stimulation. However, the effects of sleep and attention on MEG following C fiber stimulation was much larger than that following Adelta fiber stimulation. This finding may suggest greater effects of cognitive or emotional functions on second pain than the first pain.

Brain↗

The role of situational variables in pain control.

The understanding of human pain perception, nociceptive systems, and analgesia is complicated by the variety of psychological, social and contextual variables that may interact with noxious sensory input to produce inexplicable changes in the strength, unpleasantness or quality of pain that is experienced. Consequently, many clinical and experimental studies aim to elucidate the mechanism by which psychological variables affect both neural coding and the resulting pain perception. Recently, more attention has focused on situational variables as important modifiers of pain and analgesic efficacy. Situational variables refer to the specific combination of psychological and contextual factors that exist in a particular pain situation. These variables represent a unique interaction between the individual experiencing pain and the context in which the pain is experienced.This article reviews the role of situational variables for modifying multiple dimensions of pain perception. Observations from human and animal research studies have been integrated to illustrate the potential of situational variables for enhancing or for reducing pain that is produced by a noxious stimulus. Clinical and experimental research designs are presented which may be used to identify relevant situational variables, to determine their effect on pain perception, to assess their interaction with analgesic efficacy, and to evaluate their mechanisms of action.

Animals↗

Different autonomic responses to experimental pain in IBS patients and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: Pain perception ratings in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients suggest that they present either hypoalgesia or hyperalgesia. However, little is known about the physiologic responses these patients present to a somatic painful stimulus. GOALS: The main goal of this project was to study autonomic nervous system responses and the cardiac response to experimental pain in IBS patients. STUDY: This was addressed by exposing 27 women, 14 IBS, and 13 healthy controls (HCs), to a cold water (7 degrees C) immersion test of the forefoot for 2 minutes. Pain perception, galvanic skin responses (GSR), and heart rate (HR) were monitored during and after the immersion. RESULTS: For comparable pain perception, a significant group difference (P<0.02) in the cardiac response was observed during the immersion where the peak rise in HR was much higher for HCs, reaching 22%, whereas it only reached 8% for IBS patients. Moreover, HR variability analysis demonstrated that IBS and HCs had opposite autonomic cardiac reactivity to pain, where IBS had increased parasympathetic/decreased sympathetic reactivity. CONCLUSIONS: For comparable pain perception, IBS subject demonstrated different autonomic nervous system response to pain, which supports the view of autonomic dysregulation in IBS.

Adult↗

Does participation in a pain course based on the International Association for the Study of Pain's curricula guidelines change student knowledge about pain?

BACKGROUND: The People in Pain course was set up as a joint initiative of the Departments of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy within the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. It was instigated in response to the publication of Pain Curricula for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) in 1994 (1). The first year it was offered, the "People in Pain" course comprised 14 h of lecture content. It was then expanded to encompass 28 h of lectures and seminar involvement. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of participation in a university pain course that meets the IASP pain curricula guidelines to increase health professional students' knowledge about pain. METHODS: Students who participated in the People in Pain course over the first three years were invited to complete the Revised Pain Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire (R-PKAQ) pre- and postcourse. Data obtained from 22 students in the short course formed a pilot project, and data from 22 students in the longer version of the course were used in the present study. RESULTS: Examination of the correlation matrix indicated substantial correlations between all R-PKAQ subscales except physiological basis of pain and pharmacological management of pain. In both the pilot project during the first year of the course and the expanded course in the following two years, significant improvement was found in the students' knowledge on five of the six subscales of the R-PKAQ: physiological basis of pain, psychological factors of pain perception, assessment and measurement of pain, cognitive-behavioural methods of pain relief, and pharmacological management of pain. Improvements in the developmental aspects of pain perception subscale failed to reach significance. CONCLUSIONS: An integrated pain course developed according to the pain curriculum guidelines developed by the IASP resulted in increased student knowledge regardless of the length of the program attended.

Analysis of Variance↗

Adenosine-induced chest pain in patients with silent and painful myocardial ischaemia: another clue to the importance of generalized defective perception of painful stimuli as a cause of silent ischaemia.

Adenosine is formed from adenosine triphosphate within the ischaemic cells from where it is released into the coronary circulation. Adenosine exhibits several cardiovascular effects which tend to protect the ischaemic myocardium. Based on the observation that in healthy volunteers the intravenous infusion of adenosine produces angina-like chest pain, it has been recently proposed that another cardioprotective action of this substance could be provocation of angina. If this is the case adenosine should not produce chest pain in patients with silent ischaemia. To test this hypothesis we infused this substance intravenously at increasing doses of 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 micrograms kg-1 min-1 in eight patients with silent ischaemia (group A). All of them developed ST depression (1.8 +/- 0.2 mm) during exercise testing and seven also during adenosine infusion (1.1 +/- 0.8 mm). However, none of the patients had chest pain during exercise while seven had chest pain during adenosine. We then infused adenosine in eight other patients (Group B) who had painful ischaemia and an exercise tolerance similar to that of Group A patients (time to 1 mm ST depression 8.6 +/- 2.7 min and 8.4 +/- 3 min, respectively, P = NS). Adenosine induced chest pain in all Group B patients. The time to pain onset during adenosine was similar in the two groups (9.3 +/- 2.3 min in Group B and 12.4 +/- 4.9 min in Group A).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adenosine↗

Factors influencing the postoperative use of analgesics in dogs and cats by Canadian veterinarians.

Four hundred and seventeen Canadian veterinarians were surveyed to determine their postoperative use of analgesics in dogs and cats following 6 categories of surgeries, and their opinion toward pain perception and perceived complications associated with the postoperative use of potent opioid analgesics. Three hundred and seventeen (76%) returned the questionnaire. An analgesic user was defined as a veterinarian who administers analgesics to at least 50% of dogs or 50% of cats following abdominal surgery, excluding ovariohysterectomy. The veterinarians responding exhibited a bimodal distribution of analgesic use, with 49.5% being defined as analgesic users. These veterinarians tended to use analgesics in 100% of animals following abdominal surgery. Veterinarians defined as analgesic nonusers rarely used postoperative analgesics following any abdominal surgery. Pain perception was defined as the average of pain rankings (on a scale of 1 to 10) following abdominal surgery, or the value for dogs or cats if the veterinarian worked with only 1 of the 2 species. Maximum concern about the risks associated with the postoperative use of potent opioid agonists was defined as the highest ranking assigned to any of the 7 risks evaluated in either dogs or cats. Logistic regression analysis identified the pain perception score and the maximum concern regarding the use of potent opioid agonists in the postoperative period as the 2 factors that distinguished analgesic users from analgesic nonusers. This model correctly classified 68% of veterinarians as analgesic users or nonusers. Linear regression analysis identified gender and the presence of an animal health technologist in the practice as the 2 factors that influenced pain perception by veterinarians. Linear regression analysis identified working with an animal health technologist, graduation within the past 10 years, and attendance at continuing education as factors that influenced maximum concern about the postoperative use of opioid agonists.

Abdomen↗

Heterologous desensitization of opioid receptors by chemokines inhibits chemotaxis and enhances the perception of pain.

The chemokines use G protein-coupled receptors to regulate the migratory and proadhesive responses of leukocytes. Based on observations that G protein-coupled receptors undergo heterologous desensitization, we have examined the ability of chemokines to also influence the perception of pain by cross-desensitizing opioid G protein-coupled receptors function in vitro and in vivo. We find that the chemotactic activities of both mu- and delta-opioid receptors are desensitized following activation of the chemokine receptors CCR5, CCR2, CCR7, and CXCR4 but not of the CXCR1 or CXCR2 receptors. Furthermore, we also find that pretreatment with RANTES/CCL5, the ligand for CCR1, and CCR5 or SDF-1alpha/CXCL12, the ligand for CXCR4, followed by opioid administration into the periaqueductal gray matter of the brain results in an increased rat tail flick response to a painful stimulus. Because chemokine administration into the periaqueductal gray matter inhibits opioid-induced analgesia, we propose that the activation of proinflammatory chemokine receptors down-regulates the analgesic functions of opioid receptors, and this enhances the perception of pain at inflammatory sites.

Analgesics, Opioid↗

Fetal pain: a systematic multidisciplinary review of the evidence.

CONTEXT: Proposed federal legislation would require physicians to inform women seeking abortions at 20 or more weeks after fertilization that the fetus feels pain and to offer anesthesia administered directly to the fetus. This article examines whether a fetus feels pain and if so, whether safe and effective techniques exist for providing direct fetal anesthesia or analgesia in the context of therapeutic procedures or abortion. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Systematic search of PubMed for English-language articles focusing on human studies related to fetal pain, anesthesia, and analgesia. Included articles studied fetuses of less than 30 weeks' gestational age or specifically addressed fetal pain perception or nociception. Articles were reviewed for additional references. The search was performed without date limitations and was current as of June 6, 2005. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Pain perception requires conscious recognition or awareness of a noxious stimulus. Neither withdrawal reflexes nor hormonal stress responses to invasive procedures prove the existence of fetal pain, because they can be elicited by nonpainful stimuli and occur without conscious cortical processing. Fetal awareness of noxious stimuli requires functional thalamocortical connections. Thalamocortical fibers begin appearing between 23 to 30 weeks' gestational age, while electroencephalography suggests the capacity for functional pain perception in preterm neonates probably does not exist before 29 or 30 weeks. For fetal surgery, women may receive general anesthesia and/or analgesics intended for placental transfer, and parenteral opioids may be administered to the fetus under direct or sonographic visualization. In these circumstances, administration of anesthesia and analgesia serves purposes unrelated to reduction of fetal pain, including inhibition of fetal movement, prevention of fetal hormonal stress responses, and induction of uterine atony. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester. Little or no evidence addresses the effectiveness of direct fetal anesthetic or analgesic techniques. Similarly, limited or no data exist on the safety of such techniques for pregnant women in the context of abortion. Anesthetic techniques currently used during fetal surgery are not directly applicable to abortion procedures.

Abortion, Induced↗

The relationship of somatization and depression to experimental pain response in women with temporomandibular disorders.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with temporomandibular pain disorders (TMD) have greater experimental pain perception when compared with pain-free controls. Common psychological features of TMD include somatization and depression. The impact of depression on experimental pain perception has received considerable attention. However, the role of somatization on experimental pain in a chronic pain population has not been explored. METHODS: Fifty-six women with TMD and 59 pain-free controls underwent three experimental pain procedures, including palpation at fixed amounts of pressure, pressure pain thresholds, and an ischemic pain task. Levels of depression and somatization were assessed using the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD. Multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the extent to which depression and somatization were associated with experimental pain response. RESULTS: After controlling for characteristic pain intensity and depression, somatization explained a significant proportion of variance in numbers of masticatory sites rated as painful (R2 change = 6.7%, p = .046) with the full model explaining 16.4% of the variance (p = .024). This did not meet an adjusted level of statistical significance (p = .008). After controlling for characteristic pain, only depression added significantly to the model predicting ischemic pain threshold and tolerance. The full models including characteristic pain and depression explained 49% and 20% of the variance in ischemic pain threshold and tolerance, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that depression and somatization are associated with different measures of experimental pain. Somatization may be related to more attentional and perceptual measures of clinically relevant pain while depression may be related to more behavioral measures of pain.

Adolescent↗

The effect of visual stimulation via the eyeglass display and the perception of pain.

Hospitalization involves anxiety and pain for many people. Unfamiliar hospital settings, various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and the sight and sounds of medical procedures exacerbate pain and anxiety. By blocking off the anxiety-inducing sights and sounds of the hospital surroundings and creating a pleasant environment, an eyeglass display might be able to change the sensation and perception of pain. In this randomized, controlled, crossover study, 72 healthy university student volunteers were asked to wear a light-weight eyeglass that projected a feeling of watching a 52-inch television screen at 6 1/2 feet in distance while pain was produced by a modified tourniquet technique. Subjects were randomly assigned to participate in a V-session or B-session first, with subsequent cross-over. In a V-session, subjects were instructed to wear the eyeglass and watch the soundless display of natural scenery during the inflation. In a B-session, the eyeglass that subjects wore would project a static blank screen. During V-sessions, there was a significant increase in pain threshold (p < 0.001) and pain tolerance (p < 0.001). The degree of immersion was positively correlated with improvement in pain threshold, whereas the anxiety level was negatively correlated with improvement in pain threshold. These findings have implications for using visual stimulation as a positive adjunct to other methods of pain relief and for different pain conditions. This study was considered to be the pioneer use of visual stimulation in the local Chinese community as an adjunct to pain relief.

Adult↗

The application of eyeglass displays in changing the perception of pain.

We have been examining the potential value of visual stimulation via the eyeglass displays in changing the perception of pain. In this randomized, controlled, cross-over study, 72 healthy university student volunteers were asked to wear a light-weighted eyeglass projecting a feeling of watching a fifty-two-inch television screen in a close distance while pain was produced by a modified tourniquet technique. There is a significant increase of pain threshold and pain tolerance with the effect of visual stimulation. These findings having implications of using visual stimulation as positive adjunct to other methods of pain relief and to different pain conditions in clinical areas.

Adult↗

Cerebral responses following stimulation of unmyelinated C-fibers in humans: electro- and magneto-encephalographic study.

There are two kinds of pain, a sharp pain ascending through Adelta fibers (first pain) and a second burning pain ascending though C fibers (second pain). By using a novel method, the application of a low intensity CO(2) laser beam to a tiny area of skin using a very thin aluminum plate with numerous tiny holes as a spatial filter, we succeeded in selectively stimulating unmyelinated C fibers of the skin in humans, and could record consistent and clear brain responses using electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The conduction velocity (CV) of the C fibers of the peripheral nerve and spinal cord, probably spinothalamic tract (STT), is approximately 1-4 m/s, which is significantly slower than that of Adelta (approximately 10-15 m/s) and Abeta fibers (approximately 50-70 m/s). This method should be very useful for clinical application. Following C fiber stimulation, primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (SI and SII) are simultaneously activated in the cerebral hemisphere contralateral to the stimulation, and then, SII in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulation is activated. These early responses are easily detected by MEG. Then, probably limbic systems such as insula and cingulate cortex are activated, and those activities reflected in EEG components. Investigations of the cortical processing in pain perception including both first and second pain should provide a better understanding of pain perception and, therefore, contribute to pain relief in clinical medicine.

Animals↗