Investigate and Predict Aortic & Thoracic Surgery Persistenet Postsurgical Pain

This is an observational clinical study aiming to further the wider understanding of patients who develop persistent pain after Thoracoabdominal Aorta surgery, a surgical cohort who are disproportionately affected. This will be undertaken through a prospective biopsychosocial characterisation of the phenotype of patients undergoing this operation.

Increasing numbers of patients are undergoing surgery on the chest for treatment of heart or lung cancer disease. Over the last twenty years, the medical community has become increasingly aware of the long-term effect of this surgery in producing persistent pain, approximately half of all survivors are still in pain around their surgical incision at three months postoperatively and beyond. There is currently no accepted method for preventing this phenomenon.

The nervous system mechanisms for the development of persistent pain after surgery are unclear. Some studies suggest it may involve the patient's ability to dampen down pain signals travelling from the incision site to the brain.

Humans have an in-built system that produces opiates as well as other pain-relieving molecules in response to injury, e.g. surgery. However, this response varies hugely from person to person and may even be impacted by the psychological state of the individual at the time of surgery. Some of these pain modulating mechanisms can be measured before and after surgery in patients using sensory testing, a robust and established objective method to assess patients'.

Identifying patients who are most at risk of a persistent pain state will allow both academics and clinicians to investigate and better target appropriate treatments.

Undertaking these longitudinal observational assessments will facilitate an improved mechanistic insight of the transition from acute to pathological pain, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for patients'.