Introducing a Device for Measuring Pain Intensity; a Letter to Editor

Pain is defined as an unpleasant feeling caused by a real or potential tissue injury and is classified into neuropathic, somatic and visceral types. Characteristics such as severity, location, duration and site of pain referral are very helpful in correct diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Pain control in the emergency department is one of the first measures that should be taken for the patients and for this purpose, a wide range of analgesic drugs such as NSAIDs, opioids, and corticosteroids are used.For evaluating the success rate as well as determining the best medication required for controlling the patient’s pain, being aware of the pain severity is of great importance. Therefore, a device or a method that can monitor pain severity and therefore, the process of patient treatment with high accuracy is very interesting. Currently, various methods exist for assessing pain severity. One way is to ask the patient (self-report) for determining pain severity. Among the most important methods based on self-report of the patient, numerical rating scales (NRS) and verbal rating scales (VRS) can be mentioned. In cases that self-report by the patient is not possible, methods such as Behavioral pain scale (BPS) and critical care pain observation tool (CPOT) can be used.One of the common methods for assessing pain severity and threshold in animal studies is using monofilaments. These monofilaments are made from polyethylene and the base of their function is the bend that occurs at the time of applying pressure on the surface of the intended organ. A wide range of these filaments is available, each of which apply a pre-determined force depending on the bend.Results of a study were indicative of 41% to 93% sensitivity and 68% to 100% specificity of monofilaments in determining pain threshold. However, temperature and humidity of the environment can affect the bending and therefore, the accuracy of the monofilaments.Considering the aforementioned points, researchers of the present study attempted to design a digital ...