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The following is a summary of “Explorative sensory profile evaluation in central neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury,” published in the August 2024 issue of Pain by Landmann et al.

Quantitative sensory testing (QST), used in sensory profiling in neuropathic pain, has not been extended to central neuropathic pain because of spinal cord injury (SCI). 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate sensory profiles in patients with neuropathic SCI pain.

Using the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain protocol, they analyzed QST data from 62 patients with neuropathic spinal cord injury pain (SCIP). The study involved at-level and below-level SCIP due to spinal cord lesions and at-level SCIP following a cauda equina lesion. QST parameters were compared across the diagnostic groups. Additionally, QST profiles for below-level SCIP (central neuropathic pain) were classified into sensory phenotypes based on existing literature and expert judgment.

The results showed no statistical differences in QST parameters between pain diagnoses. For central neuropathic pain (below-level SCIP), 3 phenotypes were descriptively observed: loss of function (59%), a combination of thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia (16%), and mechanical hyperalgesia (19%). The remaining 5% of patients did not fall into a familiar pattern, and no statistical differences in clinical and psychological variables between the phenotypes were observed. In a subgroup analysis, the loss of function phenotype was weakly correlated with older age and a longer duration of pain and injury. 

They concluded that the study on sensory phenotypes of central neuropathic pain following SCI, due to the limited sample size, high rate of missing values, and retrospective nature, considered the results strictly exploratory.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejp.4719