Central Sensitisation and Postoperative Pain
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
One out of 10 patients undergoing surgery develops persistent post-surgical pain (PPSP). Unfortunately, available therapies for treating this pain have limited success. It is therefore of great importance to find strategies to prevent PPSP. The goal of this project is to find new screening tools that identify patients that are at risk for developing PPSP.
Tissue injury and inflammation following surgery increase the excitability of spinal nociceptive neurons ("central sensitisation", CS) with pain hypersensitivity as consequence. It is thought that CS plays an important role in persistent pain.
The first objective of this project is to assess in human patients if the propensity to develop CS manifested as secondary hyperalgesia before surgery is predictive for PPSP.
In addition, we will test if the frequency content of the resting-state EEG reflecting the initial state of the brain will be related to the propensity for developing CS and to the presence of PPSP at two months after surgery.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: patients undergo lateral thoracotomy for primary lung cancer Electroencephalography (EEG) will be acquired before surgery Questionnaires assessing psychological status of the patients before and after surgery High frequency electrical stimulation of the skin (HFS) will be delivered before surgery Quantification of mechanical sensitivity after HFS and after surgery |
Other: electroencephalography (EEG)
recording of resting state EEG using 64 surface electrodes
Other: questionnaires
Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) Neuropathic Pain questionnaire (DN4) Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS)
Other: high frequency electrical stimulation of the forearm skin (HFS)
HFS consists of transcutaneous electrical stimuli delivered as 42 Hz trains (pulse width: 2 ms) lasting 1 s. The trains are repeated 12 times. Each train is separated by 10 seconds.
Other: cutaneous mechanical pinprick stimulation
Mechanical pinprick stimuli will be applied manually by the operator on the skin using a mechanical stimulator (maximum weight 128 mN).
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- mechanical pinprick perceived intensity [1 day before surgery]
magnitude of the increase in sensitivity to mechanical pinprick stimuli after HFS
- area of increased mechanical pinprick sensitivity [1 day before surgery]
spatial extent of the increased sensitivity to mechanical pinprick stimuli after HFS
- resting state EEG [1 week before surgery]
frequency content of the resting state EEG
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
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Scheduled for a lateral thoracotomy as treatment for primary lung cancer
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Ability to provide written informed consent
Exclusion Criteria:
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Evidence for a clinically-significant alteration of the skin of the volar forearms
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Pregnancy
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Having a pacemaker or implanted cardiac defibrillator
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Surgery | Brussels | Belgium | 1200 | |
| 2 | Saint Luc Hospital | Brussels | Belgium | 1200 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- Université Catholique de Louvain
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Valérie Lacroix, MD, PhD, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
None provided.- POSTOP pain