The Correlation between Perception and Nociception Thresholds by Selected Current Stimuli in Adults

Kang, Hyung Chang; Kim, Yong Ik; Hwang, Kyung Ho; Kwak, Soo Dal; Park, Wook; Kim, Sung Yell

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate the correlation between pain and non-pain sensation of the cutaneous nociceptors in healthy adults use 250 Hz and 5 Hz evoking neuroselective sinusoidal current to A delta and C-fiber separately.
METHODS
Fifty healthy adult volunteers who have no history of neurological illness were examined. Twenty-five of them were male, and twenty-five were female. Their ages ranged from 20 to 46 years, with a mean equal to 29.5 years old. The thresholds for both current perception and nociceptive perception were measured bilaterally in volar aspect of wrist using a Neurometer CPT/C (Quantitative Sensory Nerve Testing Device). The manual mode for current perception threshold and the staircase method for nociceptive current perception threshold was performed individually.
RESULTS
The mean values of the threshold for perception evoked by 250 Hz were 0.30 mA in left and 0.31 mA in right, 0.17 mA in left and 0.14 mA in right at 5 Hz respectively. The mean values of the nociception threshold were 0.52 mA in both site at 250 Hz and from 0.35 mA to 0.32 mA at 5 Hz (Table 1). There were no differences between left and right wrist (Fig. 1). Also a significant positive correlation between current perception and nociception thresholds was found (p<0.05) (Fig. 2, 3). There appeared to be different between genders in perception threshold evoked by 250 Hz and nociception threshold evoked by 5 Hz in left (p<0.05) (Table 2).
CONCLUSIONS
There exists a meaningful correlation between both sensations of non-pain and pain perception thresholds obtained from all subjects. The measurement of the current perception threshold is considered to be a unique and valuable resource in evaluation of patient with neurologic condition, as well as in serial evaluation of patient to assess the outcome of therapeutic intervention.