title: Effect of surgery on sensory threshold and somatosensory evoked potentials after skin stimulation.
abstract: We have studied the effect of surgical injury on cutaneous sensitivity and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) to dermatomal electrical stimulation in 10 patients undergoing hysterectomy. Forty-eight hours after surgery, sensory threshold increased from 2.2 (SEM 0.3) mA to 4.4 (1.1) mA (P less than 0.01) and SSEP amplitudes in P1, N1, P2 and the peak-to-peak amplitudes decreased (P less than 0.05). Latency was prolonged only in the N3 component (P less than 0.05). No changes were seen in threshold and SSEP in a control group studied over the same interval. The results suggest that surgical injury activates antinociceptive modulatory systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Hvidovre University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.forename: O B
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kehlet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011930:Reaction Time; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena