Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol 2018; 31(S 02): A1-A25
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1668248
Poster Abstracts
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Comparing Veterinary Diagnosis and a Novel Non-Invasive Device (Paintrace) to Differentiate Location and Quantify Pain in Dogs

Authors

  • Lynn R. Zieske

    1   BioTraceIT, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

  • Deborah Dullen

    1   BioTraceIT, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

  • Minakshi Mohanty

    1   BioTraceIT, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
27 July 2018 (online)

Also available at
 
 

Introduction: Currently, pain is principally measured by self-report in humans or validated pain scales in veterinary medicine. A direct, objective biosignal has yet to be elucidated. Here we compare a novel pain monitor directly to veterinary diagnoses to determine correlation of pain quantitation practices.

Materials and Methods: Dogs were followed, in an observational study, evaluating the entire anatomy, from general examination through rehabilitation. Diagnosis was separated into five categories: pain, discomfort, spasms, tightness and triggers. Correlation was determined between veterinary and device diagnoses of pain employing unpaired t-tests.

Results: Based on veterinarian diagnosis, events were categorized into pain and non-pain groups. Using an unpaired t-test, a significant difference between the population means was noted (p < 0.001). Delving deeper into pain versus additional pain-related observations, a Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare pain, spasm, discomfort, tightness and trigger. Pairwise analysis between these categories revealed significant differences in pain/spasm (p = 0.002), pain/tightness (p = 0.001), pain/trigger (p = 0.006), discomfort/tightness (p = 0.009) and discomfort/trigger (p = 0.018) groupings.

Discussion/Conclusion: Device measurements correlate with veterinary diagnosis with p < 0.001. Significant differentiation was observed between degrees of pain. Further studies are in progress based on positive outcomes in completed IRB approved human studies when compared with self-reported pain; p < 0.001. This study supports the potential to improve translational studies via significant outcome measures.

Acknowledgement: Thank you to Dr. Nigel Gumley, DVM, MSc, Cedarview, Animal Hospital, Ottawa for the canine patients and clinical diagnoses. BioTraceIT provided the devices and assisted in statistical analysis.


No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).