Central Sensitisation and Postoperative Pain

One out of 10 patients undergoing surgery develops persistent post-surgical pain (PPSP). Unfortunately, available therapies for treating this pain have limited success. It is therefore of great importance to find strategies to prevent PPSP. The goal of this project is to find new screening tools that identify patients that are at risk for developing PPSP. Tissue injury and inflammation following surgery increase the excitability of spinal nociceptive neurons ("central sensitisation", CS) with pain hypersensitivity as consequence. It is thought that CS plays an important role in persistent pain. The first objective of this project is to assess in human patients if the propensity to develop CS manifested as secondary hyperalgesia before surgery is predictive for PPSP. In addition, we will test if the frequency content of the resting-state EEG reflecting the initial state of the brain will be related to the propensity for developing CS and to the presence of PPSP at two months after surgery.