Letter Regarding: Prevalence of Neuropathic Pain Symptoms in Foot and Ankle Patients

Abstract

I read with great interest the article "Prevalence of Neuropathic Pain Symptoms in Foot and Ankle Patients" by Sidon and colleagues in a recent issue of the journal. 6 The authors performed a cross-sectional study on 533 patients who had foot and ankle surgery and concluded that a considerable number (12.4%) of patients with foot and ankle problems requiring surgery had a neuropathic component of pain. The authors should be applauded for performing a well-designed study in an important topic (eg, pain) in patients undergoing foot and ankle surgery. 3,4 The need to tailor specific preventive analgesic strategies to patients who will benefit the most is a very relevant topic in perioperative medicine. 1,2 Nonetheless, there are some critical points that need to be clarified by the authors to support the validity of their results. First, it is important for the readers to know if all patients received the same postoperative analgesic regimen as this can alter the study results. Certain analgesics (eg, gabapentoids) and nerve blocks have been shown to reduce the development of persistent pain after surgery. 5 Similarly, it is important to know if surgical duration was similar in both groups. Last, given the relatively small sample size, it would be beneficial for the authors to provide the 95% confidence intervals for their estimation. I would welcome comments to address the aforementioned concerns as they were not discussed by the authors. This information would help to further substantiate the findings of this important clinical study.