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Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a correlation between a patients pain sensitivity and their subsequent post-operative pain and surgical outcome in arthroscopic shoulder surgery.


Clinical Trial Description

Arthroscopic shoulder surgery is increasingly performed on a daycase basis. Optimal pain relief is the goal as this not only improves patient comfort and allows expedient discharge from hospital, but also reduces the risk of developing postoperative chronic pain and may improve surgical outcome. However, optimal postoperative pain control in daycase surgery remains a challenge. There is considerable variation in the level of postoperative pain experienced between individuals and subsequent analgesia requirements. Previous studies have attempted to predict the level of postoperative pain an individual will experience, using a variety of complex preoperative pain and psychological assessments. Other investigators have focused on a simpler approach, by testing an individual's pain threshold to a single preoperative nociceptive (painful) stimulus, e.g. heat or pressure. Recent work has produced a simple questionnaire alternative to pain intensity testing, the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ). We hypothesise that a patient's pain sensitivity preoperatively may both affect the level of pain they experience postoperatively and their final surgical outcome.

The aim of our study is to correlate a patient's pain sensitivity, as measured by the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire, with the degree of acute postoperative pain (first 4 days) they experience and subsequent surgical outcome at 6 months. ;


Study Design

Observational Model: Cohort, Time Perspective: Prospective


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT01621555
Study type Observational
Source NHS Fife
Contact ANTHONY H DAVIS, MBCHB FRCA
Phone 01592643355
Email ANTHONYDAVIS@NHS.NET
Status Not yet recruiting
Phase N/A
Start date August 2012
Completion date November 2014