Dataset Information

Is heat pain detection threshold associated with the area of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization? A study of healthy volunteers - design and detailed plan of analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several factors are believed to influence the development and experience of pain. Human clinical pain models are central tools, in the investigation of basic physiologic pain responses, and can be applied in patients as well as in healthy volunteers. Each clinical pain model investigates different aspects of the human pain response. Brief thermal sensitization induces a mild burn injury, resulting in development of primary hyperalgesia at the site of stimulation, and secondary hyperalgesia surrounding the site of stimulation. Central sensitization is believed to play an important role in the development of secondary hyperalgesia; however, a possible association of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization and other heat pain models remains unknown. Our aim with this study is to investigate how close the heat pain detection threshold is associated with the size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia induced by the clinical heat pain model: Brief thermal sensitization.

Methods and design

We aim to include 120 healthy participants. The participants will be tested on two separate study days with the following procedures: i) Brief thermal sensitization, ii) heat pain detection threshold and iii) pain during thermal stimulation. Additionally, the participants will be tested with the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale questionnaires. We conducted statistical simulations based on data from our previous study, to estimate an empirical power of 99.9 % with α of 0.05. We define that an R(2) < 0.25 and predictive intervals larger than +/-150 cm(2) are indications of a weak association.

Discussion

The area of secondary hyperalgesia may serve as a quantitative measure of the central sensitization induced by cutaneous heat stimulation, and thus may be a biomarker of an individual's pain sensitivity. The number of studies investigating secondary hyperalgesia is growing; however basic knowledge of the physiologic aspects of secondary hyperalgesia in humans is still incomplete. We therefore find it interesting to investigate if HPDT, a known quantitative sensory test, is associated with areas of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov (Identifier: NCT02527395 ). Danish Research Ethics Committee (Identifier: H-8-2014-012). Danish Data Protection Agency (Identifier: 30-1436).

SUBMITTER: Hansen MS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4888470 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Is heat pain detection threshold associated with the area of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization? A study of healthy volunteers - design and detailed plan of analysis.

Hansen Morten Sejer MS Wetterslev Jørn J Pipper Christian Bressen CB Asghar Mohammad Sohail MS Dahl Jørgen Berg JB

BMC anesthesiology 20160531 1

<h4>Background</h4>Several factors are believed to influence the development and experience of pain. Human clinical pain models are central tools, in the investigation of basic physiologic pain responses, and can be applied in patients as well as in healthy volunteers. Each clinical pain model investigates different aspects of the human pain response. Brief thermal sensitization induces a mild burn injury, resulting in development of primary hyperalgesia at the site of stimulation, and secondary ...[more]

PMID: 27246322

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundSex-related differences in human thermal and pain sensitivity are the subject of controversial discussion. The goal of this study in a large number of subjects was to investigate sex differences in thermal and thermal pain perception and the thermal grill illusion (TGI) as a phenomenon reflecting crosstalk between the thermoreceptive and nociceptive systems. The thermal grill illusion is a sensation of strong, but not necessarily painful, heat often preceded by transient cold upon skin contact with spatially interlaced innocuous warm and cool stimuli.MethodsThe TGI was studied in a group of 78 female and 58 male undergraduate students and was evoked by placing the palm of the right hand on the thermal grill (20/40 °C interleaved stimulus). Sex-related thermal perception was investigated by a retrospective analysis of thermal detection and thermal pain threshold data that had been measured in student laboratory courses over 5 years (776 female and 476 male undergraduate students) using the method of quantitative sensory testing (QST). To analyse correlations between thermal pain sensitivity and the TGI, thermal pain threshold and the TGI were determined in a group of 20 female and 20 male undergraduate students.ResultsThe TGI was more pronounced in females than males. Females were more sensitive with respect to thermal detection and thermal pain thresholds. Independent of sex, thermal detection thresholds were dependent on the baseline temperature with a specific progression of an optimum curve for cold detection threshold versus baseline temperature. The distribution of cold pain thresholds was multi-modal and sex-dependent. The more pronounced TGI in females correlated with higher cold sensitivity and cold pain sensitivity in females than in males.ConclusionsOur finding that thermal detection threshold not only differs between the sexes but is also dependent on the baseline temperature reveals a complex processing of "cold" and "warm" inputs in thermal perception. The results of the TGI experiment support the assumption that sex differences in cold-related thermoreception are responsible for sex differences in the TGI.

Project description:BackgroundExperience and development of pain may be influenced by a number of physiological, psychological, and psychosocial factors. In a previous study we found differences in neuronal activation to noxious stimulation, and microstructural neuroanatomical differences, when comparing healthy volunteers with differences in size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia following a standardized burn injury.ObjectiveWe aim to investigate the degree of association between the volume of pain-relevant structures in the brain and the size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization.MethodsThe study consists of one experimental day, in which whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans will be conducted including T1-weighed three-dimensional anatomy scan, diffusion tensor imaging, and resting state functional MRI. Before the experimental day, all included participants will undergo experimental pain testing in a parallel study (Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02527395). Results from this experimental pain testing, as well as the size of the area of secondary hyperalgesia from the included participants, will be extracted from this parallel study.ResultsThe association between the volume of pain-relevant structures in the brain and the area of secondary hyperalgesia will be investigated by linear regression of the estimated best linear unbiased predictors on the individual volumes of the pain relevant brain structures.ConclusionsWe plan to investigate the association between experimental pain testing parameters and the volume, connectivity, and resting state activity of pain-relevant structures in the brain. These results may improve our knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for the development of acute and chronic pain.ClinicaltrialDanish Research Ethics Committee (identifier: H-15010473). Danish Data Protection Agency (identifier: RH-2015-149). Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02567318; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02567318 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6i4OtP0Oi).

Dataset Information

Is heat pain detection threshold associated with the area of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization? A study of healthy volunteers - design and detailed plan of analysis.

Background

Methods and design

Discussion

Trial registration

Publications

Is heat pain detection threshold associated with the area of secondary hyperalgesia following brief thermal sensitization? A study of healthy volunteers - design and detailed plan of analysis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets