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Quantitative Sensory Testing of Neuropathic Pain Patients: Potential Mechanistic and Therapeutic Implications

  • Neuropathic Pain (R Raja, Section editor)
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Abstract

Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is a widely accepted tool to investigate somatosensory changes in pain patients. Many different protocols have been developed in clinical pain research within recent years. In this review, we provide an overview of QST and tested neuroanatomical pathways, including peripheral and central structures. Based on research studies using animal and human surrogate models of neuropathic pain, possible underlying mechanisms of chronic pain are discussed. Clinically, QST may be useful for 1) the identification of subgroups of patients with different underlying pain mechanisms; 2) prediction of therapeutic outcomes; and 3) quantification of therapeutic interventions in pain therapy. Combined with sensory mapping, QST may provide useful information on the site of neural damage and on mechanisms of positive and negative somatosensory abnormalities. The use of QST in individual patients for diagnostic purposes leading to individualized therapy is an interesting concept, but needs further validation.

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Article 16 February 2017

Luana Colloca, Taylor Ludman, … Srinivasa N. Raja

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Disclosures

The authors work in a quantitative sensory testing training center of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain, receiving payment for training sessions.

Dr. Doreen B. Pfau has received honoraria and travel expense compensation from Pfizer. C. Geber: none. Dr. Frank Birklein has served on the boards of Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer, and Astellas Pharma; has received grants from Eli Lilly & Co.; has received honoraria from Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Grünenthal GmbH; and has received travel expense compensation from Eli Lilly & Co. and Pfizer. Dr. Rolf-Detlef Treede has served as a consultant for Astellas Pharma, Boehringer Ingelheim, Galderma, Grünenthal GmbH, Eli Lilly & Co., Dr. Kade Merz, Mundipharma, Nycomed, and Pfizer; has been issued patents on behalf of Merz; and has received travel expense compensation from Boehringer Ingelheim, Grünenthal GmbH, Mundipharma, and Pfizer.

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  1. Department of Neurophysiology, Center for Biomedicine and Medical Technology Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Ludolf-Krehl-Strasse 13-17, 68167, Mannheim, Germany

    Doreen B. Pfau & Rolf-Detlef Treede

  2. Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstrasse 1, D-55101, Mainz, Germany

    Christian Geber & Frank Birklein

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  1. Doreen B. Pfau
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  2. Christian Geber
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  3. Frank Birklein
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  4. Rolf-Detlef Treede
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Correspondence to Doreen B. Pfau.

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Pfau, D.B., Geber, C., Birklein, F. et al. Quantitative Sensory Testing of Neuropathic Pain Patients: Potential Mechanistic and Therapeutic Implications. Curr Pain Headache Rep 16, 199–206 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-012-0261-3

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