@article{ref1,
title="Chronic central pain among community-dwelling survivors of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury: a quantitative sensory testing study",
journal="Biological research for nursing",
year="2019",
author="Bouferguène, Sabrina and Lapierre, Alexandra and Houzé, Bérengère and Rainville, Pierre and Arbour, Caroline",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="1099800419859078-1099800419859078",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Central pain associated with changes in sensory thresholds is one of the most enduring consequences of major trauma. Yet it remains sparsely studied among community-dwelling survivors of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). <br><br>PURPOSE: To describe and compare thermal and mechanical sensory thresholds in home-based patients with and without central pain after moderate-to-severe TBI with a cohort of healthy controls. <br><br>DESIGN: Cross-sectional. <br><br>METHOD: Thresholds for cold/heat detection, thermal pain, touch, and distorted sensation were gathered using quantitative sensory testing (QST). QST was performed on the painful and contralateral pain-free body regions in TBI participants with pain (TBI-P) and on both forearms in TBI participants without pain (TBI-NP) and healthy controls (HC). Central pain was characterized using the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form. <br><br>RESULTS: We tested 16 TBI-P patients, 17 TBI-NP patients, and 16 HC. Mean time since injury for TBI patients was 24 ± 15 months. TBI-P and TBI-NP patients showed significant loss in innocuous mechanical sensitivity compared to HC (<i>F</i> = 18.929; Bonferroni-adjusted <i>p</i> ≤.001). Right-left differences in cold pain sensations were significantly larger in TBI-P than in TBI-NP and HC participants (<i>F</i> = 14.352; Bonferroni-adjusted <i>p</i> ≤.001). Elevated heat sensitivity thresholds were also observed in TBI-P participants but remained within normal range. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Damage to cutaneous mechanoreceptors is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the development of chronic central pain following TBI. Damage or incomplete recovery of cutaneous thermoreceptors may be a contributing factor to chronic pain after TBI.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1099-8004",
doi="10.1177/1099800419859078",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1099800419859078"
}