Figure 1.
Pain distribution in patients with painful radiculopathy.
Criteria for the selection of painful radiculopathy were the following: Leg pain had to be the predominant complaint whereas back pain was absent or of minor intensity. In order to select patients with neuropathic painful radiculopathy with the highest probability only patients who marked their most prominent pain (in red) in the following areas were included: (Foot) OR (foot AND shank) OR (foot AND shank AND thigh).
Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with painful radiculopathy (RAD).
Table 2.
Pain and sensory symptoms in patients with painful radiculopathy (RAD).
Figure 2.
Subgroups of patients based on sensory symptoms.
To identify relevant subgroups of patients who are characterized by a characteristic symptom constellation a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed. The clusters are represented by the patterns of questionnaire scores (adjusted individual mean), thus showing the typical pathological structure of the respecting group. By using this approach five clusters with distinct symptom profiles could be detected in the RAD cohort. Sensory profiles show remarkable differences in the expression of the symptoms. Subgroup 5 was unique for patients with painful radiculopathy. RAD = painful radiculopathy.
Table 3.
Distribution of sensory symptom profiles (clusters) in patients with painful radiculopathy (RAD).