Somatosensory Phenotyping of ADPKD

Over 60% of patients with ADPKD suffer from pain, mostly in the abdomen, flank and back, often leading to the diagnosis. It is challenging to manage and cure the pain; approximately 39% of patients are not satisfied with their pain treatment, since the pain prevents them from doing various activities, affecting their quality of life. Pain can be present before enlargement of the kidneys, the source of the pain is often unknown and common analgesics are insufficient to manage the pain or cannot be taken due to renal impairment. By further investigating and characterizing the pain phenotype of the ADPKD population, pain management might be improved and alternative therapeutic approaches might be developed. In this clinical study, pain will be assessed in patients with ADPKD using Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) on the dominant hand and the lower back, together with four questionnaires regarding pain and quality of life. These results will be compared with the somatosensory profile of matched healthy volunteers.