Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain
Synonyms
Definition
It is now well established that chronic pain can develop as the consequence of repeated or severe episodes of acute pain, e.g., in the context of trauma, surgery, or acute painful illness. This progression is most likely to be the consequence of central nervous processes, commonly called central neuroplasticity or sensitization.
Characteristics
It is well recognized that chronic pain states often follow an acutely painful stimulus such as surgery or trauma. A large study of over 5,000 patients referred to chronic pain clinics in the UK revealed that 22.5 % of these patients had developed their pain after surgery and 18.7 % after trauma (Crombie et al. 1998). Similar observations have been made when following patients after surgery or trauma, and severe early pain after thoracotomy (Katz et al. 1996) and orthopedic trauma (Gehling et al. 1999) predicts development of chronic pain states.
Risk Factors...
References
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