Pora Kuperman1, Yelena Granovsky1, Michal Granot1, Hany Bahouth1, Shiri Fadel1, Gila Hyams1, Hen Ben Lulu1, Osnat Aspis1, Rabia Salame1, Julia Begal1, David Hochstein1, Shahar Grunner1, Liat Honigman1, Maya Reshef1, Elliot Sprecher1, Noam Bosak1, Michele Sterling1, David Yarnitsky2. 1. From the Faculty of Medicine (P.K., Y.G., S.F., L.H., M.R.), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Department of Nursing (M.G.), Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa; TraumaEmergency Surgery (H.B., H.B.L.), Nursing (G.H.), ICU (O.A.), Department of Emergency Medicine (R.S.), General Surgery Department (J.B., D.H., S.G.), Department of Neurology (E.S., N.B., D.Y.), and Faculty of Medicine (D.Y.), Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel; and RECOVER Injury Research Centre (M.S.), NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Road Traffic Injury Recovery, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. 2. From the Faculty of Medicine (P.K., Y.G., S.F., L.H., M.R.), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Department of Nursing (M.G.), Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa; TraumaEmergency Surgery (H.B., H.B.L.), Nursing (G.H.), ICU (O.A.), Department of Emergency Medicine (R.S.), General Surgery Department (J.B., D.H., S.G.), Department of Neurology (E.S., N.B., D.Y.), and Faculty of Medicine (D.Y.), Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel; and RECOVER Injury Research Centre (M.S.), NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Road Traffic Injury Recovery, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. dy@rmc.gov.il.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To characterize the pain-related somatosensory and psychological presentation of very early acute patients with a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). METHODS: Patients with an mTBI participated in a prospective observational study undergoing clinical, psychophysic, and psychological assessment within 72 hours after the accident. Healthy controls underwent similar protocol. RESULTS: One hundred acute patients with an mTBI (age 36 ± 12.5 [SD] years, range 19-67 years, 42 women) and 80 healthy controls (age 43 ± 14.3 years, range 24-74 years, 40 women) participated. Patients with an mTBI demonstrated a pronociceptive psychophysic response in most tests such as less efficient pressure-pain threshold-conditioned pain modulation (0.19 ±0.19±.09 vs. 0.91±.10 kg, p < 0.001) and lower temperature needed to elicit a Pain50 response (44.72 ± 0.26°C vs 46.41 ± 0.30°C, p < 0.001). Their psychophysic findings correlated with clinical pain measures, e.g., Pain50 temperature and mean head (r = -0.21, p = 0.045) and neck (r = -0.26, p = 0.011) pain. The pain-catastrophizing magnification subscale was the only psychological variable to show a difference from the controls, while no significant correlations were found between any psychological measures and the clinical or psychophysic pain measures. CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be a dichotomy between somatosensory and psychological findings in the very early acute post-mTBI stage; while the first is altered and is associated with the clinical picture, the second is unchanged. In the context of the ongoing debate on the pathophysiologic nature of the post-mTBI syndrome, our findings support its "physical" basis, free of mental influence, at least in the short time window after the injury.
OBJECTIVE: To characterize the pain-related somatosensory and psychological presentation of very early acute patients with a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). METHODS:Patients with an mTBI participated in a prospective observational study undergoing clinical, psychophysic, and psychological assessment within 72 hours after the accident. Healthy controls underwent similar protocol. RESULTS: One hundred acute patients with an mTBI (age 36 ± 12.5 [SD] years, range 19-67 years, 42 women) and 80 healthy controls (age 43 ± 14.3 years, range 24-74 years, 40 women) participated. Patients with an mTBI demonstrated a pronociceptive psychophysic response in most tests such as less efficient pressure-pain threshold-conditioned pain modulation (0.19 ±0.19±.09 vs. 0.91±.10 kg, p < 0.001) and lower temperature needed to elicit a Pain50 response (44.72 ± 0.26°C vs 46.41 ± 0.30°C, p < 0.001). Their psychophysic findings correlated with clinical pain measures, e.g., Pain50 temperature and mean head (r = -0.21, p = 0.045) and neck (r = -0.26, p = 0.011) pain. The pain-catastrophizing magnification subscale was the only psychological variable to show a difference from the controls, while no significant correlations were found between any psychological measures and the clinical or psychophysic pain measures. CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be a dichotomy between somatosensory and psychological findings in the very early acute post-mTBI stage; while the first is altered and is associated with the clinical picture, the second is unchanged. In the context of the ongoing debate on the pathophysiologic nature of the post-mTBI syndrome, our findings support its "physical" basis, free of mental influence, at least in the short time window after the injury.
Authors: Kelly M Naugle; Christopher Carey; Eric Evans; Jonathan Saxe; Ryan Overman; Fletcher A White Journal: J Headache Pain Date: 2020-12-03 Impact factor: 7.277