title: Analgesia nociception index: evaluation as a new parameter for acute postoperative pain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A means of identifying the presence and severity of pain that is not reliant on the subjective assessment of pain is desirable whenever a patient self-rating of pain cannot be easily obtained (e.g. sedated patients, very young children, individuals with learning difficulties). The heart rate variability based analgesia nociception index (ANI) has been proposed to reflect different levels of acute pain. The aim of this study was to compare ANI scores with a numeric rating scale (NRS, 0-10) based on self-assessment of pain in the recovery room.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and twenty patients after non-emergency surgery were included. On arrival in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) and subsequently at 5 min intervals, patients were asked to rate their level of pain on a 0-10 NRS. ANI values 0-100 points (low values indicating higher levels of pain) were recorded simultaneously.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight hundred and sixteen pain ratings from 114 patients were included in the analysis. A small but statistically significant negative correlation was found between ANI and the NRS scores (ρ=-0.075; P=0.034). A small but significant difference in ANI was found comparing the extremes of pain [mean (se): NRS 0: 63 (1.4) vs NRS 6-10: 59 (1.4); P=0.027]. However, a receiver-operating analysis testing the value of ANI to distinguish between NRS 0 and NRS 6-10 revealed only low sensitivity and specificity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ANI did not reflect different states of acute postoperative pain measured on a NRS scale after adult sevoflurane-based general anaesthesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Royal Perth Hospital, Wellington Street Campus, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ledowski
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Tiong
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fiori
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Parker
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000379:methods; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008738:Methyl Ethers; D008875:Middle Aged; D059226:Nociceptive Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D000077149:Sevoflurane; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D008738:Methyl Ethers; D000077149:Sevoflurane; D005283:Fentanyl
keywords: analgesia, postoperative; pain, postoperative