ArticleEuropean journal of pain (London, England)2023
Pain-autonomic measures reveal nociceptive sensitization in complex regional pain syndrome.
Article in European journal of pain (London, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beware of What You Expect? A Partial Replication Study on the Behavioral and Psychophysiological Effects of Negative Expectations on Mechanical Hypersensitivity.Psychophysiology · 2026Trial
- Placebo Effect on Pain-Related Autonomic Responses in a State of Experimentally-Induced Sensitization.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Observational
- Dysregulated Pain-Autonomic Responses in Patients With Nonspecific Chronic Low Back Pain.Pain research & management · 2026Observational
- Nocebo Effect on Pain-Related Autonomic Responses in a State of Experimentally-Induced Sensitization.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- Clinical and Molecular Barriers to Understanding the Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Understanding inter-individual variability of experimental pain habituation and conditioned pain modulation in healthy individuals.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Contact-Heat Evoked Potentials: Insights into Pain Processing in CRPS Type I.Journal of pain research · 2024Article
- Priming of the autonomic nervous system after an experimental human pain model.Journal of neurophysiology · 2023Article
- Habituation to Pain in Patients with Chronic Pain: Clinical Implications and Future Directions.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Pain-autonomic measures reveal nociceptive sensitization in complex regional pain syndrome.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAllodynia and hyperalgesia are common signs in individuals with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), mainly attributed to sensitization of the nociceptive system. Appropriate diagnostic tools for the objective assessment of such hypersensitivities are still lacking, which are essential for the development of mechanism-based treatment strategies.
objectivesThis study investigated the use of pain-autonomic readouts to objectively detect sensitization processes in CRPS.
methodsTwenty individuals with chronic CRPS were recruited for the study alongside 16 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). All individuals underwent quantitative sensory testing and neurophysiological assessments. Sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) were recorded in response to 15 pinprick and 15 noxious heat stimuli of the affected (CRPS hand/foot) and a control area (contralateral shoulder/hand).
resultsIndividuals with CRPS showed increased mechanical pain sensitivity and increased SSR amplitudes compared with HC in response to pinprick and heat stimulation of the affected (p < 0.001), but not in the control area (p > 0.05). Habituation of pinprick-induced SSRs was reduced in CRPS compared to HC in both the affected (p = 0.018) and slightly in the control area (p = 0.048). Habituation of heat-induced SSR was reduced in CRPS in the affected (p = 0.008), but not the control area (p = 0.053).
conclusionsThis is the first study demonstrating clinical evidence that pain-related autonomic responses may represent objective tools to quantify sensitization processes along the nociceptive neuraxis in CRPS (e.g. widespread hyperexcitability). Pain-autonomic readouts could help scrutinize mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of chronic pain in CRPS and provide valuable metrics to detect mechanism-based treatment responses in clinical trials. SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides clinical evidence that autonomic measures to noxious stimuli can objectively detect sensitization processes along the nociceptive neuraxis in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) (e.g. widespread hyperexcitability). Pain-autonomic readouts may represent valuable tools to explore pathophysiological mechanisms in a variety of pain patients and offer novel avenues to help guide mechanism-based therapeutic strategies.
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