Abstract No. : ABS2584: Incidence of different phenotypes of neuropathic pain in cancer patients coming to tertiary care centre in North India over a period of one year -An observational study .

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Neuropathic pain can present as characters(phenotypes) based on specific etiology, which can be grouped together to form phenotypic clusters. This study aimed to find out the incidence of different phenotypes amongst cancer patients and form phenotypic clusters. METHODS: Institutional Ethics Committee clearance and clinical trial registration registration were obtained. After written and informed consent, patients aged between 18-80years, registering in Pain and palliative out-patient department or Radiotherapy department with complaint of pain and noton any anti-neuropathic pain medications, were enroled. They were assessed using the Leeds assessment of neuropathic symptoms and signs(LANSS) pain score and a score of >12 was eligible for assessment of neuropathic pain phenotypes. RESULTS: Out of 261 patients ,73 had LANSS>12 (28%). The incidence of various characters of neuropathic pain has been shown in figure 1. The phenotypes were clustered in 3 groups based on spontaneous pain(cluster I), stimulus evoked positive pain(cluster II) and stimulus evoked negative pain(cluster III) and they were correlated with different organ systems. Most of the patients had combined phenotypic sensory profile of cluster I+II. CONCLUSION: Careful patient assessment can reveal different phenotypic combinations of pain and hence guide targeted therapy. Individuals’ sensory profiles should be used to select the patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment with drugs used for neuropathic pain.