Neuropathic Evaluation of Postoperative Pain

Abstract

Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is defined by pain persisting longer than 2 months after surgery (1). Its incidence varies from 10 to 50 % in the literature (2). A high proportion of CPSP is neuropathic (CPSNP) (4). Postoperative pain is traditionally classified as nociceptive pain and the more intense is this pain on a numeric pain scale (NPS), higher are the risks of pain chronicization and the duration of the severe pain is longer (5,6). However, acute neuropathic pain (ANP) can be present in the postoperative setting. However, data on the prevalence of ANP immediately after surgery are scarce and no screening tool has been validated so far in this setting. Therefore, the first objective of this multicenter observational study is to prospectively describe the incidence of APSNP in a large population using the DN4 questionnaire. The second objective of our study is to confirm the hypothetic link between APSNP and CPSNP at 1 and 2 months after surgery in a large population. It is hypothesized that the systematic use of the DN4 questionnaire in postoperative could help detect patients at risk of CPSNP.

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