Presented at the 2012 AAPM Annual Meeting « Back

Chronic Pain and Organ Transplantation: Treatment Outcomes Following Participation in Intensive Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Treatment

Miranda N. Bretz, BA, randibretz@gmail.com¹, Sarah E. Hayes, Student¹, Elizabeth J. Luger, BS¹, Cynthia O. Townsend, PhD LP ABPP¹, W. Michael Hooten, MD¹, (1) Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

Introduction: Although chronic pain has been established as a prevalent concern following organ transplantation [1], there is minimal empirical research on effective treatments to improve pain/functioning in this complex patient population. This retrospective study compares treatment outcomes of post-transplant and non-transplant chronic pain patients following intensive (3-week) interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation. Material/Methods: Mayo IRB approved this non-randomized, 2-group, pre-post design study to compare 20 post-transplant and 60 non-transplant chronic pain patients admitted to the Mayo Pain Rehabilitation Center from January 2002 to March 2011. A control match was established for the two groups based on age and admission date. Pain severity, mood and functioning were assessed with the Multidimensional Pain Inventory, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, SF-36 Health Survey and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale. Results: There were no differences between transplant and non-transplant patients on demographic characteristics and pain duration. Compared to non-transplant pain patients, transplant patients were less likely to work, took fewer tricyclic antidepressants and were less likely to currently use alcohol (p<.05). There were no differences in frequency of use of opioids, daily morphine equivalence, pain severity, and depression. Posttreatment, significant within subject effects were found with both the transplant and non-transplant patients equally experiencing significant improvement in pain severity, depression, pain catastrophizing, and functioning on all outcome measures assessed (p<.001). Conclusions: Post-transplant chronic pain patients responded favorably and similarly to non-transplant patients with improved functioning following interdisciplinary rehabilitation treatment. References: 1)Nourbala, M-H. Hollisaaz, M-T. Nasiri, M. Bahaeloo-Horeh, S. Najafi, M. Araghizadeh, H. Rezaie, Y. Lak, M. Pain affects health-related quality of life in kidney transplant recipients. Transplantation Proceedings. 39(4):1126-9, 2007 May.

Funding: None