Changes in visual attentional behavior in complex regional pain syndrome: A preliminary study

Purpose: The purpose of
the present study was to investigate the visual attentional behavior toward a pain-affected area
and face/body images using eye tracking in complex
regional pain syndrome (CRPS) patients. Moreover, we investigated the
relationship between visual attentional behavior and clinical symptoms.

Patients and methods: Eight female patients
with CRPS type 1 in their upper limb and 8 healthy adult women participated in
this study. First, the participants were asked to watch videoclips in a relaxed
manner (Videoclip 1 featured young adults who introduced themselves; Videoclip 2 featured young adults touching the hand of the other
person sitting across from them with their hand.) Eye movement data were
tracked with eye-tracking glasses.

Results: In video clip 1, the fixation duration (FD) and fixation count (FC) on faces tended
to be lower in CRPS patients than in healthy controls. This tendency was found
in patients with low body cognitive distortions. In video clip
2, CRPS patients displayed significantly lower FD and FC on the unaffected hand
while watching a video of the unaffected hand being touched compared with
healthy controls. Moreover, patients with low body cognitive distortion displayed
significantly longer FD on the affected hand.

Conclusion: Some CRPS
patients differed in visual attentional behavior toward the face and body
compared with healthy controls. In addition, our findings suggest that patients
with lower body cognitive distortion may have a high visual attention for the
affected hand, while patients with higher distortion may be neglecting the
affected hand.