The Role of Cognitive Function and Electroencephalography on Acute and Chronic Pain After Surgery

Patients after surgery are liable to suffer from moderate to severe acute pain and refractory chronic pain, which would lead to serious somatic and psychological suffering. Its successful treatment is a great challenge for pain physicians. To date, the mechanism of pain chronification after surgery remains unclear. Further, it is still lack of efficient preventive and therapeutic measures for this chronic pain. The project will apply the methods of clinical observation and animal experiment, (1) to collect the cognitive function data preoperatively and early postoperatively, as well as the pain score data at multiple time points pre- and postoperatively, and to observe the role of the degree of recovery of early postoperative cognitive function on acute pain and chronic pain after thoracic surgery. (2) to collect the resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) preoperatively, and to assess the role of EEG index system on the prediction of the degree of recovery of early postoperative cognitive function as well as the acute pain and chronic pain after thoracic surgery. The project will be able to determine the relationships between the degree of recovery of early postoperative cognitive function, as well as preoperative resting-state EEG indices and postoperative acute pain and chronic pain, and clarify the neural mechanism of acute pain and chronic pain after surgery. The expected outcomes of this study can contribute to early identification of the patients who are liable to develop into acute pain and chronic pain after surgery, and give them reasonable intervention in time, and provide effective solutions for the acute pain and chronic pain after surgery.