Comparison of Two Measures of Tactile Acuity in CRPS Type I Patients , Patients With a Neuropathy of the Median Nerve and Healthy Controls.
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- CRPS Type I of the Upper Extremity
- Sponsor
- Ruhr University of Bochum
- Enrollment
- 150
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- tactile acuity as measured by 2-point-discrimination
- Last Updated
- 12 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
This study aims to investigate whether two different measures of tactile acuity lead to comparable results in patients diagnosed with CRPS Type I of the upper extremity. Additionally patients with a neuropathy of the median nerve and healthy controls are included.
Investigators
Christoph Maier, Prof. Dr.
Prof. Dr. med Christoph Maier, Head Dep. of Pain Medicine
Ruhr University of Bochum
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Patients diagnosed with CRPS Type I according to the "Budapest Criteria"
- •Patients diagnosed with a neuropathy of the median nerve
- •Healthy Controls,matched in age and gender to both patient cohorts
Exclusion Criteria
- •intolerable hyperalgesia
- •lesions at the fingertips
- •high grade digit contracture
- •central neurologic disorders
- •psychiatric disorders
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
tactile acuity as measured by 2-point-discrimination
Time Frame: unique measurement of maximal one hour duration
Thresholds on the tip of the index finger of boths hands are assessed using the method of constant stimuli. One single needle and seven pairs of needles with different spacings are tested in randomized order. After each presentation, the subject has to report the sensation of one or two needles by answering immediately "one" or "two." Each distance is presented eight times resulting in 64 single decisions. The summed responses are plotted against distance as a psychometric function for absolute threshold and get fitted by a binary logistic regression. Thresholds are taken from the fit at the distance at which 50% correct answers are given
tactile acuity as measured by the Grating Orientation Task (GOT)
Time Frame: unique measurement of maximal half an hour duration
Stimuli are taken from a set of dome-shaped plastic gratings with equal groove and ridge widths. Gratings are applied to the immobilized distal fingerpad of the index finger of boths hand with the ridges oriented either along or across the long axis of the finger in randomized sequences of the two alternatives. Subjects have to report the orientation of the gratings as "along" or "across". The largest groove widths in the set is 6mm, the minimal width is 0.5mm. Thresholds were taken from the groove width at which the performance was 75% correct. Unless the performance is exactly 75% for a particular grating, interpolation between gratings spanning the 75% correct responses ared used