ABSTRACT
Objectives:
Neuropathic pain (ND) is defined as “one that results from injury or disease that directly affects the somatosensory system”, differing from other types of pain in terms of symptoms, mechanisms and therapeutics, being the early diagnosis prerequisite for the appropriate management. Pain evaluation scales are very useful in clinical diagnosis. It is critical that orthopedic doctors are familiar with such tools. The objective was to evaluate whether the orthopedic physicians in Salvador know the tools of evaluation and clinical diagnosis of neuropathic pain (ND), as well as to determine which method of evaluation of ND is most used in their clinical practice.
Methods:
Data were analyzed from 74 orthopedic physicians working in the city of Salvador, who were interviewed from January to November 2017. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire consisting of subjective and objective questions and analyzed with SPSS 22.0 software.
Results:
Among the interviewed physicians, 41.9% knew some of the scales and, of these, 64.5% used in their clinical practice, being 70.3% of the total sample. The LANSS scale was used by 25.8% of the physicians in their practice as a tool to diagnose neuropathic pain, 22.6% used DN4 and 35.5% did not use any.
Conclusions:
The orthopedic physicians know little about the tools of evaluation and diagnosis of neuropathic pain and those with greater time of activity know less these tools than those who have less time. Many who know the tools do not use them in their clinical practice. LANSS and DN4 are the most commonly used scales. Level of Evidence III; Cross Sectional Study.
Keywords:
Diagnosis; Neuralgia; Orthopedists; Scales
