SenseCheQ - approach to quantitative sensory testing to detect CIPN

Patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) have abnormalities in Quantitative Sensory Test (QST) findings. However, the predictive utility of QST for the early detection of CIPN in individuals has not been demonstrated. QST is time-consuming, requires expertise and often complex equipment to administer which has largely precluded it from being used in routine clinical practice. Longitudinal QST during chemotherapy treatment is required to determine its utility in predicting the development of CIPN. We therefore set out to assess approaches to develop a reliable, easy to use, potentially self-administered, sensory testing method informed by patient-partner input. We conducted a series of five iterative experiments aimed at answering key questions to develop a time-efficient test protocol assessing detection thresholds for warm, cold and vibration. We find that the thenar eminence of the hand is more sensitive to all stimulus modalities and consistently has lower variance compared to the feet – particularly in older participants and patients with CIPN. The use of haptic actuators provides advantages over the calibrated tuning fork and can detect age-related and body site differences in vibration threshold and is also able to track loss of sensory function. These findings establish a testing framework to deliver QST at a single convenient body site with a reduced set of modalities to track multifibre sensory function for patients at risk of developing neuropathy.