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Diagnosing and Characterizing Neuropathic Pain in Dogs with Spinal Cord Injury

Kerns, Austin, FInk

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Comparative and Veterinary Medicine.
Electronic von Frey anesthesiometry (VFA) has been previously reported by our laboratory and others as a useful method of mechanical quantitative sensory testing (QST) for evaluating neuropathic pain in dogs. Intraobserver agreement has been previously shown to be good to excellent; however, interobserver agreement has not been evaluated and is vital to the use of this technique in multicenter veterinary clinical trials in neuropathic pain. The goal of this study was to evaluate the interobserver agreement of sensory thresholds obtained using electronic VFA in a group of normal small breed dogs. Twenty healthy dogs (< 20kg) were recruited from the general practice population at the Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center. Three novice evaluators used an electronic von Frey device (IITC Life Science; Woodlands, CA) to measure mechanical sensory threshold (ST) after a brief standardized training session conducted by an expert evaluator. Each dog was evaluated by all three investigators on the same day with both evaluator and limb test order randomized and testing sessions separated by five minutes. Mean ST values were averaged for all four limbs to produce a single value per dog for comparison between evaluators. Agreement between evaluators was determined using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC; two-way model for consistency, single measures). ICC across all three evaluators was 0.48, indicating moderate agreement. Moderate interobserver agreement is not sufficient to support the use of this technique in multi-center clinical trials, and our results underscore the importance of using a single evaluator for this QST technique in canine neuropathic pain studies. VFA was then used to objectively measure mechanical ST in 21 dogs with acute spinal cord injury (SCI) caused by spontaneous thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusion (IVDE) at 10 days, 30 days, and 90 days after decompressive hemilaminectomy. ST values were compared over time and correlated with locomotor scores. There was no significant change in ST in the thoracic limbs over the 90 day recovery period. Pelvic limb ST were highest at 10 days consistent with hypoalgesia and declined over time, though the decline from 30 to 90 days was not statistically significant (means ± standard error of the mean ST for pelvic limbs at 10 days = 209.2 ± 14.1 g, at 30 days = 173.8 ± 11.1 g, and at 90 days = 162.6 ± 12.3 g). A significant difference was identified in the pelvic limbs when comparing ST at 10 and 30 days (mean difference 35.4 g; P=0.01) and at 10 and 90 days (mean difference 46.7 g; P=0.001), but not at 30 and 90 days (mean difference 11.2 g; P=0.93). There was an inverse correlation between locomotor score and pelvic limb ST over time (r = -0.5; P = 0.03). These findings are suggestive of recovery of sensorimotor spinal cord function, and potentially the development of hyperesthesia indicative of neuropathic pain. This is the first study to evaluate ST over an extended period of time to evaluate for chronic neuropathic pain in dogs and results suggest the need for further longitudinal studies related to neuropathic pain in dogs after SCI.
Sarah Moore, DVM (Advisor)
Laurie Cook, DVM (Committee Member)
Ronaldo da Costa, DVM (Committee Member)
Nina Kieves, DVM (Committee Member)
77 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kerns, FInk, A. (2018). Diagnosing and Characterizing Neuropathic Pain in Dogs with Spinal Cord Injury [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1522671185254685

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kerns, FInk, Austin. Diagnosing and Characterizing Neuropathic Pain in Dogs with Spinal Cord Injury. 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1522671185254685.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kerns, FInk, Austin. "Diagnosing and Characterizing Neuropathic Pain in Dogs with Spinal Cord Injury." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1522671185254685

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)