Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2012 Mar;20(3):625-32.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-011-1141-9. Epub 2011 Apr 12.

The relationship between numbness, tingling, and shooting/burning pain in patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) as measured by the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 instrument, N06CA

Sherry L Wolf  1 , Debra L Barton, Rui Qin, Edward J Wos, Jeff A Sloan, Heshan Liu, Neil K Aaronson, Daniel V Satele, Bassam I Mattar, Nathan B Green, Charles L Loprinzi
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

The relationship between numbness, tingling, and shooting/burning pain in patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) as measured by the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 instrument, N06CA

Sherry L Wolf et al. Support Care Cancer. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is characterized by numbness, tingling, and shooting/burning pain. This analysis was performed to describe the relationship between numbness, tingling, and shooting/burning pain in patients with CIPN, as reported using the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 (CIPN20).

Methods: Baseline CIPN20 data were provided for all patients on a prospective trial designed to treat patients with bothersome CIPN. Baseline frequencies for the items on the CIPN20 are primarily described by descriptive statistics and histograms, with correlational analyses between individual items.

Results: A majority of the 199 patients accrued to this study reported "quite a bit" to "very much" numbness (57%) or tingling (63%) in the hands compared to "a little" or "not at all" (numbness (43%), tingling (38%)). Fewer patients reported "quite a bit" to "very much" shooting/burning pain in the hands (18%). Numbness and tingling in the hands were highly correlated (r = 0.69), while neither were highly correlated with shooting/burning pain. Similar results were observed in the feet. More severe ratings for tingling and shooting/burning pain were ascribed to the lower extremities, as opposed to the upper extremities.

Conclusions: In patients with CIPN, severe sensory neuropathy symptoms (numbness, tingling) commonly exist without severe neuropathic pain symptoms (shooting/burning pain), while the reverse is not common. Symptoms in the feet should be evaluated distinctly from those in the hands as the experience of symptoms is not identical, for individual patients, in upper versus lower extremities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest disclosure Neil K. Aaronson, who developed the EORCT QLQ-CIPN20 instrument, works with EORTC. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of patients reporting “quite a bit” or “very much” numbness, tingling, and/or shooting/burning pain on the EORTC CIPN20 sensory subscale
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cavaletti G, et al. Peripheral neurotoxicity of taxol in patients previously treated with cisplatin. Cancer. 1995;75(5):1141–1150. - PubMed
    1. Cavaletti G, et al. Carboplatin toxic effects on the peripheral nervous system of the rat. Ann Oncol. 1998;9(4):443–447. - PubMed
    1. Ocean AJ, Vahdat LT. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: pathogenesis and emerging therapies. Support Care Cancer. 2004;12(9):619–625. - PubMed
    1. Pace A, et al. Paclitaxel neurotoxicity: clinical and neurophysiological study of 23 patients. Ital J Neurol Sci. 1997;18 (2):73–79. - PubMed
    1. Rowinsky EK, et al. Neurotoxicity of taxol. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1993;15:107–115. - PubMed

Publication types