Articles: pain-measurement.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 1988
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialPain intensity measurements in patients with acute pain receiving afferent stimulation.
Six different pain rating scales, including a "pain relief scale", were compared in 80 patients suffering acute orofacial pain. Pain intensity measurements were made before and after a 30 min period of afferent stimulation (TENS/vibration and placebo). ⋯ The verbal rating scale did not perform well. The pain relief scale and the numerical rating scale are interesting alternatives to the established visual analogue scale.
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Test-retest reliability of a pain drawing instrument was investigated. Pain drawings of chronic pain patients (n = 51) were scored for percentage of total body surface in pain and location of pain. ⋯ The effect on reliability of age, gender and time-interval differences was investigated. The utility of the pain drawing instrument as a measure of extent of pain and location of pain over time is discussed.
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Pain drawings were obtained from two groups of patients and one of nonpatients, in a total of 264 subjects, all suffering from back pain. The pain drawings were rated in four grades according to the degree of nonorganic and extended pain. ⋯ A correlation was also found to ethnic background and social situation but not to alcohol abuse or psychiatric illness. Pain drawings afford an important clue to nonorganic factors in the assessment of back pain.
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The evaluation of cancer pain remains a problematic clinical problem, not only due to the subjective and multidimensional nature of pain per se, but also because of its specific characteristics. Cancer pain has an insidious onset, often involves many sites, and is frequently multicausal. Tools have been developed to quantify pain, the most commonly used being the verbal rating scale (VRS), the visual analogue scale (VAS), and the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPO). ⋯ In addition, the words within a given category are considered to be equidistant, the number of words in each category are unequal, and the number of categories evaluating a given dimension are not taken into account when calculating the total pain rating index. A further issue in assessing pain, other than the choice of a valid and reliable tool, is the frequency with which pain evaluations should be repeated. To date no studies have addressed this problem.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 1988
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialLaser-induced pain for evaluation of local analgesia: a comparison of topical application (EMLA) and local injection (lidocaine).
High-energy lasers are suitable for experimental pain stimulation because they selectively activate the polymodal nociceptors. Argon laser light penetrates deep into the skin and makes this laser type preferable for simulating pain arising from surgical skin incisions. Short argon laser pulses were applied to the skin and three parameters were quantified before and during analgesia; sensory threshold, pain threshold, and the pain-related cortical response (latency and amplitude). ⋯ During the next 30 minutes after removal of the cream, the thresholds increased further. The increase in analgetic effect after removal of the cream was studied using different times (15, 30, 60, 80, 100, and 120 minutes) for topical EMLA cream application. Total sensory block was reached 20 minutes after removal of application for 80 minutes or immediately after removal of the cream after it was applied for 100 or 120 minutes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)