May 10, 2019
16:00 - 17:00
Free
Louvain Bionics' Seminar&Coffee
Come, learn and meet our researchers over a drink!
Date of the May edition:
10 May 2019 at 16:00
Title:
Predicting pain persistence: The assessment of central sensitization in humans
Speaker:
Emanuel van den Broeke, Post-Doc (research group of Prof. André Mouraux)
Abstract:
In some individuals the pain that results from tissue injury or trauma may persist beyond the expected healing period. As an example, one out of 10 patients undergoing surgery develops persistent postsurgical pain in spite of normal (uncomplicated) wound healing. It is widely believed that the phenomenon of “central sensitization” (CS); the amplification of pain in the central nervous system, plays an important role in persistent pain. This idea is supported by studies showing that the intensity of acute postoperative pain and a larger area of pain hypersensitivity surrounding the surgical incision within the first week after surgery are associated with the development of persistent postsurgical pain. These results suggest that when exposed to surgery some individuals show a higher propensity to develop CS, and are at more risk of developing persistent pain. This raises the interesting question if these individuals can already be identified before surgery by provoking CS.
In this seminar I will give a demonstration of how we provoke CS in healthy volunteers, how CS is manifested and how we assess CS.
Location:
Auditoire 42C, Séminaires Martin V (jardin Martin V)