• Keine Ergebnisse gefunden

Quantitative assessment of thermal and pain sensitivity

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Aktie "Quantitative assessment of thermal and pain sensitivity"

Copied!
1
0
0

Wird geladen.... (Jetzt Volltext ansehen)

Volltext

(1)

Letter to the Editor

Quantitative assessment of thermal and pain sensitivity

S. Lautenbacher •

Deportment of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudo/f-Bultmann-Straße 8, D-35033 Marburg, Germany Received 5 April 1995; accepted 8 May 1995

Dear Sir,

1 read the paper of Meh and Denislic (1994) in your joumal with interest and I am convinced that the presented methods for assessment of thermal and pain sensitivity are very useful in general. However, it is undoubtedly neces- sary to object to some of the given results and conclusions.

Median values for heat "pain" threshold around and below 37°C are suggestive that anything but not pain was measured. Otherwise, our own body temperature would be a pain stimulus. Correspondingly, considerable evidence has accumulated that the nociceptor threshold and the subjective pain threshold are clearly above 40°C.

There are obvious methodological reasons for this sort of false heat pain threshold as 1 explained already some- where else in detail (Lautenbacher, 1992). Starting a tem- perature increase from a baseline of 30°C produces prema- ture "pain" responses, which are presumably rather in- dicative of anxiety than of pain. For this reason, we set our baseline to 40°C. Furthermore, the first few trials should always be excluded from analysis because an approxima- tion to the actual heat pain threshold occurs during these trials when using methods like those described by Meh and

' Tel.: ( + 49-6421) 28-5308; Fax: ( + 49-6421) 28-8939.

Denislic. (lt does not become apparent in the paper of Meh and Denislic which trials they used for analysis.)

In consequence, our findings of no sex differences in heat pain thresholds (around 44°C), which we obtained in two studies (Lautenbacher and Strian, 1991; Lautenbacher and Rollman, 1993), are undoubtedly still valid although Meh and Denifüc reported the opposite and heat "pain"

thresholds of approximately 37°C. Presumably, the two genders differ in heat pain anticipation but not in heat pain responsiveness.

References

Lauienbacher, S. (1992) Strian et al. reply to Bowsher. J. Neurol.

Neurosurg. Psychiat„ 55: 1222-1223.

Lautenbacher, S. and Rollman, G.B. (1993) Sex differences in rcspon- sivene5s to painful and non-painful stimuli are dependent upon the stimulation method. Pain, 53: 255-264.

Lautenbacher, S. and Strian, F. (1991) Sex differences in pain and thermal scnsitivity: thc rolc of body sizc. Percept. Psychophys., 50:

179-183.

Meh, D. and M. Denifü~ (1994) Quantitative assessment of thermal and pain sensitivity. J. Neurol. Sei., 127: 164-169.

Referenzen

ÄHNLICHE DOKUMENTE

Strikingly, a specific attenuation of mechanical hypersensitivity upon induction of inflammatory pain and in the initial stage of neuropathic pain (7 days post

Surprisingly, the correlation observed between spi- nal stiffness and pressure pain threshold was opposite than expected: Participants with higher degrees of spi- nal stiffness

besonderem Interesse sind der Beitrag über Plazebo-Analgesie (Kap. 20) sowie die Ausführungen zum Einsatz von Schmerzmedikamenten bei Kleinkin- dern und Kindern (Kap. 24)

Pain from brain: Can we remodel neural circuitry that generates phantom limb pain and other forms of neuropathic pain?. Thomas

!#&)$*"#(%$2"34(0"-"5#"%&#634(0"!#&)$*"#(%$2"34(0"-"5#"%&#634(0"!#&)$*"#(%$2"34(0"-"5#"%&#634([r]

Before treatment, 50 adolescent patients (median age 13.6 years, range 8.9–39.3 years, 28 female, 22 male) completed a questionnaire concerning their facial and dental appearance,

In addition, feedback from clinical practice related to difficulties in pain assessment with the BPSN in very preterm neonates and the increasing scientific evidence that

1) To describe the neuropathic pain phenotype in CCK 2 –/– mice. More specifically, to study the interaction of CCK with the opioid system in the development of neuropathic