Scottish scientists are using computer technology to help patients tell their doctors exactly what pain they are feeling. The research project conducted at the University of Abertay Dundee, in
which computers generate representations of human sensations, is helping to bring relief to chronic pain sufferers.
Trials of an interactive computer software package, which allows patients to alter graphic representations of various kinds of pain, have been conducted among some 300 pain clinic patients. It has
given them the ability to communicate their feelings in a much more detailed method than by means of a traditional question-and-answer form.
The software has been developed by Professor Mike Swanston, Head of the university's School of Health and Social Sciences who says the system allows doctors to get to the root of their patients' pain
problem. "With pain it is not a case of one person telling you the truth and another not doing so'', said Professor Swanston: "This idea that pain ought to have some standard of reference is wrong.
All human perceptions are necessarily subjective. What patients want to tell you is how they are feeling and this software may provide an extra channel of communication for them · and it's fun''.
Sufferers often face an uphill battle to convince doctors and their families of the extent of pain they experience each day of their lives. Even when they are referred to a specialist pain clinic,
expressing the sharpness of pain or the dullness of aches is not easy. Language proves inadequate and frustration sets in.
Professor Swanston explained that the computer package had been developed to assess chronic pain so that doctors could gain an indication of the effectiveness of treatment. A version of the system
called Window Pain has been devised for use on a personal computer, by which patients can express the degree of pressure, throbbing, piercing or burning pain they are experiencing.
Patients sit at a computer terminal and press keys to tighten or loosen a vice on a red ball to indicate pressure. They can also alter the pounding of a hammer to show the level of a throbbing pain,
or change the position of a needle shown puncturing an object corresponding to a sharply piercing pain.
Professor Swanston said that different types of pain indicated possible damage to the heart. Overall he sees the system as working in conjunction with a wider range of other diagnostic tools.
The software is particularly useful where people have difficulty in expressing themselves clearly, for example, the very young and those who have suffered a stroke.
The present standard method of assessing pain is the McGill questionnaire, named after the Canadian university where it was developed. However, with its 36 descriptions and different emotional
responses, patients often find it confusing and unhelpful. But with Professor Swanston's program, patients adjust the computer images in their own time. But, with the touch of a key, a doctor can
reveal a numerical value for the patient's level of pain. This overcomes one of the classic problems of psychometric testing · how do you get scientifically valid measurements.
Suitably adapted, the software has several more potential uses, such as market research, assessing dental pain, testing new painkillers, and even gauging depression, state of mind or mood.
School of Health and Social Sciences, University of Abertay Dundee, Bell Street, Dundee, United Kingdom, DD1 1HG. Telephone: +44 13 82 30 80 00. Fax: +44 13 82 22 31 21.
Freitag, 21. Mai 1999