Interventional procedure overview of targeted muscle reinnervation for managing limb amputation pain

Numerical Rating Scale (NRS)

The NRS is a measure of pain intensity that is widely used in research and clinical practice. It uses an 11-, 21- or 101-point scale where the end points are the extremes of no pain and pain as bad as it could be, or worst pain.

The authors of Dumanian et al. (2019) noted that a change in NRS of 2 points on an 11-point scale has been shown to be clinically important and correlates to a need for additional pain medication.

Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)

The PROMIS is a set of person-centred measures that evaluates and monitors physical, mental, and social health in adults and children. The measures are generic rather than disease-specific and can be used with the general population and with individuals living with chronic conditions. Pain-related subdomains include items for pain intensity, interference, behaviour, and pain quality. PROMIS measures use a T-score metric in which 50 is the mean of a relevant reference population and 10 is the standard deviation (SD) of that population. Higher scores mean more of the concept being measured.

Brief Pain Inventory – Pain Severity

The Brief Pain Inventory–Pain Severity (BPI-PS) instrument uses a numerical rating scale (0 to 10) to assess the worst, best, average, and current pain levels from the previous week. The overall severity score represents the average of these 4 scores. Higher scores represent worse outcomes.

Brief Pain Inventory–Pain Interference

The Brief Pain Inventory–Pain Interference (BPI-PI) instrument uses a numerical rating scale (0 to 10) to assess the extent to which pain interferes with 7 key domains of daily function (general activity, mood, walking ability, normal work, relations with other persons, sleep, and enjoyment of life). Higher scores represent worse outcomes.

Pain Catastrophizing Scale

The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) uses a numerical rating scale (0 to 4) to assess the severity of 13 catastrophising thoughts or feelings experienced with pain. Higher scores represent worse outcomes.

Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders

Neuro-QoL is a set of self-report measures that assesses the health-related quality of life of adults and children with neurological disorders. There are 17 domains and sub-domains used for adults: anxiety, depression, fatigue, upper extremity function, lower extremity function, cognitive function, emotional and behavioural, positive affect and wellbeing, sleep disturbance, ability to participate in social roles and activities, satisfaction with social roles and activities, stigma, communication, end of life concerns, bowel function, urinary or bladder function, and sexual function.

Orthotics Prosthetics Users Survey

The Orthotics Prosthetics Users Survey (OPUS) is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 5 modules (The Upper Extremity Functional Status Survey, The Lower Extremity Functional Status Survey, OPUS-Health Related Quality of Life Index, OPUS-Satisfaction with Devices and OPUS-Satisfaction with Services). Higher scores indicate better outcomes.