Pupillometry for Pain Assessment in Critically Ill Patients

Pupillometry for Pain Assessment in Critically Ill Patients

This study was part of a quality improvement project at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin.

Being in pain is reported to be one of the most important stressors in critically ill patients and worsens outcome. The evaluation of pain using validated scores in patients who are able to self-report significantly improves the quality of analgesic therapy and health related outcomes in intensive care patients.

However, behavioral pain score that are used in sedated or delirious patients, often underestimate the severity of pain.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate if measurement of the pupillary light reflex Amplitude correlates with the results of pain assessment using validated pain scores in critically ill patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• critically ill patients
• aged 18 years or older
• patients with an expected intensive care unit length of stay of of at least 48 hours.

Exclusion Criteria:

• not German speaking
• traumatic brain injury
• stroke
• increased intracranial pressure
• ocular disease or surgery.