title: Sensory correlates of pain in peripheral neuropathies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize sensory threshold alterations in peripheral neuropathies and the relationship between these alterations and the presence of pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-four patients with length-dependent sensory axonal neuropathy were enrolled, including 38 patients with painful neuropathy (complaining of chronic, spontaneous neuropathic pain in the feet) and 36 patients with painless neuropathy. They were compared to 28 age-matched normal controls. A standardized quantitative sensory testing protocol was performed in all individuals to assess large and small fiber function at the foot. Large fibers were assessed by measuring mechanical (pressure and vibration) detection thresholds and small fibers by measuring pain and thermal detection thresholds.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between patients with neuropathy and controls, significant differences were found for mechanical and thermal detection thresholds but not for pain thresholds. Patients with painful neuropathy and those with painless neuropathy did not differ regarding mechanical or thermal thresholds, but only by a higher incidence of thermal or dynamic mechanical allodynia in case of painful neuropathy. Pain intensity correlated with the alteration of thermal detection and mechanical pain thresholds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quantitative sensory testing can support the diagnosis of sensory neuropathy when considering detection threshold measurement. Thermal threshold deterioration was not associated with the occurrence of pain but with its intensity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a complex relationship between the loss or functional deficit of large and especially small sensory nerve fibers and the development of pain in peripheral neuropathy.
authors.affiliation: Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Est Créteil, EA 4391, Créteil, France; Service de Physiologie - Explorations Fonctionnelles, et Médecine du Sport, Hôpital Avicenne, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ng Wing Tin
authors.affiliation: Service de Physiologie - Explorations Fonctionnelles, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Créteil, France; Pain Center, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ciampi de Andrade
authors.affiliation: Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Est Créteil, EA 4391, Créteil, France; Service de Neurochirurgie, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: Colette
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goujon
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: Violaine
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Planté-Bordeneuve
authors.affiliation: Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Est Créteil, EA 4391, Créteil, France; Service de Neurologie, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Créange
authors.affiliation: Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Est Créteil, EA 4391, Créteil, France; Service de Physiologie - Explorations Fonctionnelles, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Créteil, France. Electronic address: jean-pascal.lefaucheur@hmn.aphp.fr.
authors.forename: Jean-Pascal
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lefaucheur
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000294:innervation; D006801:Humans; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Nerve excitability; Neuropathic pain; Pain Questionnaire; Peripheral pain; Quantitative sensory testing; Small fiber neuropathy