Results published in Pain: Evaluating Tools for Neuropathic Pain: A Study on Diagnostic Accuracy

Dunker and colleagues investigated three commonly used clinical tools—painDETECT, Self-Completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS), and Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4)—to distinguish between neuropathic and nonneuropathic pain in patients with lower extremity pain referred to polyneuropathy assessments.

The research, conducted across five Norwegian University hospitals, found that while DN4 showed high sensitivity, all three tools had low specificity. Furthermore, the predictive ability was unsatisfactory, with the three tools only providing correct results in 40-75% cases.

In conclusion, the study suggests that none of these tools confidently used to assess neuropathic pain in patients with symptoms of polyneuropathy in neurological outpatient settings.