Study of verbal description in neuropathic pain

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the quality of verbal description and its diagnostic value in neuropathic pain. The verbal description of pain as assessed by a French adjective list questionnaire (QDSA) is compared between a group of 100 patients with neuropathic pain and a mixed group of 97 chronic benign and cancer non-neuropathic pain patients. Seventeen descriptors of the 61 QDSA descriptors have a significant intergroup frequency difference. By principal component analysis and Varimax rotation of the intercorrelation matrix of descriptors in the neuropathic group. 7 factors accounting for 66.0% of the total variance are derived. Six factors reflect purely sensory or affective aspects of the pain experience. Seven descriptors from the discriminant analysis function correctly assign 77% of neuropathic pain patients and 81% of the non-neuropathic pain patients. In a second neuropathic pain group of 32 patients, the discriminant function coefficient permits correct diagnostic categorization in 66% of the cases. Implications for clinical practice and trials are discussed.

Pain Phenotype in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: Classification and Measurement Properties of painDETECT and Self‐Report Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs Scale in a Cross‐Sectional Study

“…Both questionnaires appear to address a coherent phenotype in patients with knee OA, despite the aforementioned differences in pain classifications. MPQ PRI scores exhibited similar associations with painDETECT, S‐LANSS, and measures of pain severity, possibly because the MPQ considers neuropathic‐like as well as nociceptive‐like characteristics 2, 33.…”

Pain in tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I associated myelopathy patients

“…Three of them reported in the early phase of the disease and 4 in the late stage. Burning pain in feet and legs, paresthesias in the legs, shooting, dysaesthesic and leg pain were seen in 16 (57.1%) patients, suggesting neuropathic pain, according to Boureau 20 and Bouhassira et al 21 verbal descriptors. Most of them (14 patients) presented it in the early phase of the condition.…”

“…Moreover in our series, most of the patients complained of pain in the early phase of TSP/HAM, as also shown in other series 6,[26][27][28] and this may correlate with predominant inflammatory activity in this phase 23,29 . According to Boureau 20 and Bouhassira et al 21 verbal descriptors, nociceptive and neuropathic pain symptoms have been identified in the description of TSP/HAM patients, by previous authors, as shown below.…”

“…To define the category of pain, symptoms were matched with verbal descriptors for neuropathic and nociceptive pain, as reported by Boureau et al 20 and Bouhassira et al 21 , which…”

Long-term follow-up of breast cancer survivors with post-mastectomy pain syndrome

“…Pain characteristics were quantified using the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the University of California and San Francisco (UCSF) Pain Service questionnaire (Melzack, 1983;Fields, 1987). Patients were asked to complete upper body pain charts using different graphical symbols for numbness, pins and needles, burning, stabbing and ache (Boureau et al, 1990). Free-text sections were included for women to describe their experience with pain, limitations of daily activities and coping strategies.…”