Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow E-Letters: Submit a response to the article
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (58)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by DAHL, J. B.
Right arrow Articles by KEHLET, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by DAHL, J. B.
Right arrow Articles by KEHLET, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

British Journal of Anaesthesia, 1992, Vol. 69, No. 2 117-121
© 1992 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia

research-article

PAIN SENSATION AND NOCICEPTIVE REFLEX EXCITABILITY IN SURGICAL PATIENTS AND HUMAN VOLUNTEERS

J. B. DAHL, M.D.1, C. J. ERICHSEN1, A. FUGLSANG-FREDERIKSEN2 and H. KEHLET, M.D., PH.D.3

1Department of Anaesthesia, Hvidovre University Hospital DK-2650 Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
2Department of Ginical Neuro-physiology, Hvidovre University Hospital DK-2650 Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
3Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Hvidovre University Hospital DK-2650 Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Pain threshold, nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) threshold and responses to suprathreshold stimulation were investigated in 15 female patients (mean age 32 yr (range 22–48 yr)) before and 68 (range 48–96) h after gynaecological laparotomy. Control measurements were performed in 17 healthy human volunteers (five males, age 30 yr (range 24–41 yr)). In the surgical patients, pain threshold decreased and pain to suprathreshold stimulation increased significantly (?= 0.006and P =0.04, respectively) from before to after surgery. A corresponding trend was demonstrated in neurophysiological measurements, although the decrease in NFR threshold and increase in NFR amplitude to suprathreshold stzimulation were not significant (P =0.08 and P =0.24, respectively). The correlations between the relative change in pain and reflex thresholds, and time from surgery, were statistically significant (pain threshold: rs =0.53, P =0.04; NFR thresholds: rs= 0.54, P=0.04). In the healthy volunteers, no significant differences in thresholds and responses to suprathreshold stimulation were observed between two recordings with an interval of at least 48 h. The allodynia and hyperalgesia observed in postsurgical patients may be related to postoperative sensitization of central neurones.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Anesth. Analg.Home page
T. L. Jones, A. C. Lustig, and L. S. Sorkin
Secondary Hyperalgesia in the Postoperative Pain Model Is Dependent on Spinal Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II{alpha} Activation
Anesth. Analg., December 1, 2007; 105(6): 1650 - 1656.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Anesth. Analg.Home page
C. H. Wilder-Smith, L. Hill, R. A. Dyer, G. Torr, and E. Coetzee
Postoperative Sensitization and Pain After Cesarean Delivery and the Effects of Single IM Doses of Tramadol and Diclofenac Alone and in Combination
Anesth. Analg., August 1, 2003; 97(2): 526 - 533.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
N. Sawamoto, M. Honda, T. Okada, T. Hanakawa, M. Kanda, H. Fukuyama, J. Konishi, and H. Shibasaki
Expectation of Pain Enhances Responses to Nonpainful Somatosensory Stimulation in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Parietal Operculum/Posterior Insula: an Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
J. Neurosci., October 1, 2000; 20(19): 7438 - 7445.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.