42. Neuropathic Pain in Multiple Sclerosis: Serum Biomarkers and Correlation with MRI Lesion Localization

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease that causes many neurological damages and often negatively affects patients’ quality of life. One of the important factors affecting the quality of life of MS patients is pain which is a subjective experience, and there is no objective, mathematical, or manual method of measurement. There are many variable factors, such as patients' current psychological status, cognitive status, and environment affecting pain assessment. This study involved 64 clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS patients who met MacDonald's criteria 2017 at Zagazig University MS outpatient clinic. Among them, 40.6% experienced pain according to The Leeds assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) scale. Additionally, 23.4% and 18.8% reported moderate and severe pain respectively, based on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The levels of IL6, IL10, and TNF were analyzed in our patients. MRI lesion sites were studied and correlated with the presence of neuropathic pain. With all pain scales used these serological biomarkers were significantly higher in patients with severe and moderate pain (p < 0.001). pain occurrence was significantly higher in patients with thalamic, brain stem and spinal cord lesions in magnetic resonance imaging. Neuropathic pain is highly prevalent in multiple sclerosis, many serological biomarkers may be involved in onset and maintenance of neuropathic pain, also specific sites of central nervous system involvement may be associated with neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, identifying potential biomarkers for pain in multiple sclerosis may help improving quality of life and apply future perspectives for treatment and management of that irritating condition, further research is warranted for identifying further biomarkers and understanding pathophysiology of pain in multiple sclerosis.