Central Neuropathic Pain and Profiles of Quantitative Electroencephalography in Multiple Sclerosis Patients.

Pain has a significant impact on the quality of life of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the neurophysiological mechanisms of central neuropathic pain in a MS course are not known. We hypothesized that changes in power spectral density (PSD) that take place in the electroencephalography (EEG) of MS patients with and without the central neuropathic pain (CNP) would differ.

Low back pain: critical assessment of various scales.

Purpose: To study the various pain assessment tools based on their psychometric properties and ease of use.

Methods: Published articles on psychometric properties of pain tools were accessed and data collected for low back pain (LBP)-specific tools, generic tools, neuropathic LBP tools, tools for cognitively impaired patients, and tools for acute LBP.

Results: Among the LBP-specific tools, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) have good construct validity and reliability, and responsiveness over short intervals.

The effect of heterotopic noxious conditioning stimulation on Aδ-, C- and Aβ-fibre brain responses in humans.

Human studies have shown that heterotopic nociceptive conditioning stimulation (HNCS) applied to a given body location reduces the percept and brain responses elicited by noxious test stimuli delivered at a remote body location. It remains unclear to what extent this effect of HNCS relies on the spinal-bulbar-spinal loop mediating the effect of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNICs) described in animals, and/or on top-down cortical mechanisms modulating nociception. Importantly, some studies have examined the effects of HNCS on the brain responses to nociceptive input conveyed by Aδ-fibres.