Jämförelse av olika smärtskalor vid klinisk bedömning av postoperativ smärta hos hund

Abstract: SammanfattningI arbetet beskrivs olika beteenden och fysiologiska förändringar som kan indikera smärta hos hund. Det finns också en kort beskrivning av tre smärtbedömningskalor: Visuell analog skala (VAS) Glasgow Composite Pain Scale Short Form (GCPS) och University of Melbourne Pain Scale (MPS). Dessa skalor har utvecklats som verktyg för att gradera smärta. VAS har tagits fram för humanvården och de andra är utvecklade för bedömning av postoperativ smärta hos hund. Arbetet innehåller också en mindre studie, där skalorna jämförs mot varandra. Bedömare A och B har testat skalorna i en klinisk miljö. Resultatet av studien visar att alla bedömningar har viss korrelation, men att denna blir störst mellan MPS och GCPS och skillnaden mellan bedömarna A och B blev minst med GCPS och störst med VAS. SummaryThis report describes various behaviors and physiological changes used as indicators of pain in the dog. Three pain assessment scales: visual analogue scale (VAS), Glasgow Composite Pain Scale Short Form (GCPS) and the University of Melbourne Pain Scale (MPS) are also briefly described. The scales have been developed with the purpose to assist in the obligation to assess and treat acute pain in dogs. VAS has been developed in human healthcare and the additional two pain scales have been developed for evaluation of acute postoperative pain in dogs. The work includes a minor study, where the results of two independent assessors performed pain assessment in dogs before and after surgery. Further, the agreement in pain scoring between scales was evaluated. The results of this study show that the pain scoring correlated between assessors and between pain scales. The most significant agreement between the two assessors was seen with GCPS and the highest correlation between pain scales was observed with MPS and GCPS. The lowest correlations between assessors as well in comparison with the additional pain scales were found with VAS. In conclusion, this report show that systemic evaluation of postoperative pain in dogs is possible to perform in a clinical setting and the use of composite pain scales is promising.