PainVision Apparatus Is Effective for Assessing Low Back Pain

STUDY DESIGN Case series. PURPOSE To determine the utility of "PainVision" apparatus for the assessment of low back pain. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE A newly developed device, the PainVision PS-2100 (Nipro, Osaka, Japan), has been used to assess the perception of pain in a quantitative manner. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of PainVision for the assessment of low back pain. METHODS We assessed 89 patients with low back pain. The numeric rating scale (NRS) score, McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) score and the degree of pain calculated by PainVision were measured twice at 4-week intervals in each patient. An electrode was patched on the forearm surface of the patients and the degree of pain was automatically calculated (degree of pain=100×[current producing pain comparable with low back pain-current at perception threshold/current at perception threshold]). Correlations between NRS and MPQ scores and the degree of pain were determined using Spearman's rank correlation test. RESULTS There was a strong correlation between the NRS and MPQ scores at each time point (rs =0.60, p<0.0001). The degree of pain also showed a moderate correlation with NRS and MPQ scores at each time point (rs =0.40, p<0.03). The change in the degree of pain over 4 weeks showed a moderate correlation with changes in the NRS and MPQ scores (rs =0.40, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS PainVision as self-reported questionnaires is a useful tool to assess low back pain.