Objective: Our focus was the development of a new pain assessment form to facilitate patient communication, quantify the location and types of pain, identify pain medications and track patient outcomes. 

Background: Robust literature shows 29-86% of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients have reported subtypes of neurogenic pain often accompanied by non-neurogenic pain such as muscle aches, spasms and joint issues.

Methods: This is a single center prospective survey project to characterize MS-related pain. We developed a new assessment that allows patients to differentiate neurogenic from non-neurogenic pain, identify the type of pain they experience, and indicate specific locations and intensity of their pain. The new form utilizes both traditional 1-10 scales and pictographic representation for both neurogenic and non-neurogenic pain. Demographics, therapeutics and management are also recorded. 

Results: We collected data from May, 2017 to December, 2019 on 70 MS patients (average age 57, 80% female) experiencing neurogenic pain. Of the 70 patients, average pain score is 7.6±1.8 (range of 2-10), with all showing frequent pain and 3 to 4 types of neurogenic pain along with non-neurogenic pain. Severity of neurogenic pain types ranged from 6.0 to 7.6 with burning and electric pain the most intense. Overall, opioid use is low (n=18) with the AEDs, gabapentin, pregabalin and oxcarbazepine utilized in the majority of patients (n=52). The pharmaco-economics were assessed and found to be generally favorable. This information is utilized to facilitate further management and as a baseline for longitudinal assessments. 

Conclusions: The design and utilization of this form in the clinical setting has definitively facilitated a meaningful patient/physician discussion of pain. It also highlights the high levels of pain, use of AEDs, and that pain control is often suboptimal. Utilization of this form in follow up visits and tracking the data longitudinally creates a potential to optimize therapies for individuals.