• Gianluca Isoardo, Maurizio Stella, Dario Cocito, Daniela Risso, Giuseppe Migliaretti, Franco Cauda, Angela Palmitessa, Giuliano Faccani, and Palma Ciaramitaro.
• Unit of Neurophysiology, Hospital CTO-Maria Adelaide, Torino, Italy. gianlucaisoardo@yahoo.it
• Muscle Nerve. 2012 Jun 1; 45 (6): 883-90.

IntroductionPain complicates hypertrophic post-burn pathologic scars (PPS) METHODS: To investigate the possible neuropathic origin of pain, 13 patients with painful PPS involving at least 1 hand underwent clinical examination, including the Douleur Neuropathique en 4 questions (DN4) questionnaire; median, ulnar, and radial nerve conduction studies (NCS); cold- (CDT) and heat-induced pain threshold evaluation by quantitative sensory testing; and cutaneous silent period (CSP) testing of the abductor pollicis brevis. Controls included 9 patients with non-painful PPS, 52 healthy subjects, and 28 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).ResultsAll patients with painful PPS had possible neuropathic pain (DN4 score ≥4). NCS signs of CTS were similarly present in PPS subjects with or without pain. Hands with painful PPS had lower CDT and CSP duration, more frequent cold- and heat-pain hypesthesia, and more thermal allodynia than controls.ConclusionsIn PPS, possible neuropathic pain is associated with psychophysical and neurophysiological abnormalities suggestive of small-fiber damage.Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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