Same surgery, different discomfort.

• Position: Pain Management - Brief article

Why would two patients undergoing the same surgery report vastly different levels of postoperative pain--and are genetic factors mainly responsible? A researcher for the American Pain Society, Glenview, Ill., believes this discrepancy is more understandable if clinicians acknowledge that pain is a variable personal experience that is influenced by genetics while also involving multiple interactive biopsychosocial processes.

Individual differences in pain responses have been a longstanding research concern, indicates Roger B. Fillingim, professor at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, Gainesville. However, scientists and clinicians often dismiss pain variability as a nuisance and refer to those whose pain responses differ from the norm as outliers. Renewed interest in the issue has been spurred by the genetic revolution.

"Though genetic influences are a significant force that determine someone's response to...