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3 Recognition and Assessment of Pain
Pages 47-70

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From page 47...
... It concludes with speciesspecific clinical signs and behavioral responses to pain. INTRODUCTION Recognizing pain and assessing its intensity are both essential for its effective management.
From page 48...
... Box 3-1 presents a basic algorithm for pain assessment that may serve until the development of species-specific pain assessment methods. A team approach and cooperative spirit among all interested parties -- researchers, veterinarians, and animal care staff -- will benefit the welfare of the animal in pain.
From page 49...
... . It has been suggested that changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure can be used to assess pain, but these clinical parameters are often unreliable or nonspecific (e.g., similar changes may be observed in stressed or distressed animals; NRC 2008)
From page 50...
... changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Recently, however, more sophisticated analysis of heart rate variability has been of value as an adjunct to pain assessment (Arras et al.
From page 51...
... . Behavioral Changes Objective measures likely to indicate pain include changes in general locomotor activity (e.g., guarding a specific area or avoiding weight-bearing on an injured limb; Duncan et al.
From page 52...
... 2000; Roughan and Flecknell 2000) and these behaviors have been incorporated in a practicable pain assessment tool for use in laboratory rats after abdominal surgery (Roughan and Flecknell 2002)
From page 53...
... What is not yet known is whether similar systems can be used to develop a means of identifying and quantifying other types of pain in animals, including chronic pain. Deeloping Objectie Pain Assessment Tools: Companion Animals Initial methods for scoring pain in companion animals were largely subjective and seriously flawed.
From page 54...
... . These different approaches highlight the problems involved in developing pain assessment schemes (Holton et al.
From page 55...
... , they do provide insight into potential pain-related behaviors and can help predict effective analgesic drug dose rates. Techniques that measure momentary nociceptive responses involve the application of a brief noxious stimulus followed by quantification of the animal's response.
From page 56...
... PAIN ASSESSMENT: SPECIES-SPECIFIC CLINICAL SIGNS There is a remarkable lack of validated behavioral signs of pain in many species (Viñuela-Fernández et al.
From page 57...
... . Nonhuman Primates Nonhuman primates show remarkably little reaction to surgical procedures or to injury, especially in the presence of humans, and might look well until they are gravely ill or in severe pain.
From page 58...
... A reduction in food and water intake may be an indicator of pain. Laboratory Rodents Rats and mice are the two rodent species most widely used in research generally and in pain-related studies specifically, so it is important that researchers and institutional animal care and use committees recognize when these animals are in pain (for additional information see Chapter 1: Boxes 1-3 and 1-4, Chapter 4, and Appendix A)
From page 59...
... Normal guinea pigs stampede and squeal when startled, when attempts are made to handle them, or when strangers are in the room, but sick guinea pigs and those in pain usually remain quiet. However, because a normal guinea pig's initial response to the presence of an observer is also to remain immobile, assessing signs of pain can be extremely difficult.
From page 60...
... For example, lambs castrated using a rubber ring to constrict the neck of the scrotum show a series of very easily identified abnormal behaviors associated with pain. Lambs castrated surgically without anesthesia remain largely immobile for prolonged periods but the endocrine stress response produced by this method is even greater than that produced by rubber ring occlusion (Lester et al.
From page 61...
... Localized pain may be associated with persistent licking or kicking at the offending area and, when the pain is severe, bellowing. Generally, signs of abdominal pain are similar to those in horses, but less marked.
From page 62...
... There may also be an increase in heart and respiratory rates. Birds in chronic pain may exhibit a passive immobility characterized by a crouched posture with closed or partially closed eyes and head drawn toward the body.
From page 63...
... . CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Further studies to develop robust, reliable, broadly applicable pain assessment tools are required.
From page 64...
... 3. As more objective pain assessment schemes are developed, they should be adopted.
From page 65...
... Appl Anim Behav Sci 82(3)
From page 66...
... Res Vet Sci 61:172-173. Liles JH, Flecknell PA.
From page 67...
... Appl Anim Behav Sci 46:33-48. Morgan D, Cook CD, Picker MJ.
From page 68...
... Appl Anim Behav Sci 96(3-4)
From page 69...
... Appl Anim Behav Sci 56(2-4)


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