Test-retest and inter-examiner reliability of a novel bedside quantitative sensory testing battery in postherpetic neuralgia patients

Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is a well-established method of psychophysical evaluation of the somatosensory system, based on measurements of responses to calibrated, graded innocuous or noxious stimuli2,31,39.It has been used traditionally in the research setting to phenotype patients with a variety of pain disorders39. QST yields valuable information about the functional status of the somatosensory system from peripheral receptor to the cortex, and it may be used to quantify and monitor the presence and severity of either positive sensory phenomena (such as amplified pain perception reported in allodynia or hyperalgesia) or negative phenomena (e.g., loss of function as in hypoesthesia or hypoalgesia)1,44.

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