Authors:
Renato Varoto
1
;
Fábio Casagrande Hirono
1
;
Fernando Ometto Zorzenoni
2
;
Ricardo Yoshio Zanetti Kido
2
;
William Barcellos
1
and
Alberto Cliquet Jr.
3
Affiliations:
1
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
;
2
University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
;
3
University of São Paulo (USP) and University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
Keyword(s):
Thermal Sensitivity Assessment, Neuropathic Pain, Spinal Cord Injury.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Biomedical Equipment
;
Biomedical Instrumentation
;
Biomedical Instruments and Devices
;
Biomedical Metrology
;
Microelectronics
Abstract:
Neuropathic pain is characterized to arise without stimulation of nociceptors, but due to injury or dysfunction of Peripheral and Central Nervous Systems. It involves altered mechanisms of impulse transmission in somatosensory pathways, causing abnormal sensations. Quantitative sensory testing, by the detection of thermal stimuli, is a method used to characterize and study the neuropathic pain. Therefore, this work describes the development and application of portable custom built device for cutaneous thermal sensitivity assessment in spinal cord injured subjects (SCIS). Using method of levels, the assessment was applied in healthy subjects and SCIS with and without neuropathic pain. The thresholds determined for healthy subjects during thermal sensitivity assessment are consistent and other results provided by clinical trials are according to previous works, demonstrating the device feasibility as an auxiliary tool for neuropathic pain study.