Data on 40 upper limb amputees (11 bilateral) with regard to stump pain, phantom sensation and phantom pain is presented. All the patients lost their limbs as a result of violent injuries intended to terrorise the population and were assessed 10–48 months after the injury. All amputees reported stump pain in the month prior to interview and ten of the 11 bilateral amputees had bilateral pain. P...

Phantom limb pain affects an alarming amount of amputees. Little is known about the true cause of phantom limb pain, making it difficult to establish a standard treatment for it. This literature review looks at the etiology of phantom limb pain as well as the three major forms of treatment for phantom limb pain: pharmacological, invasive, and supportive. These three forms of treatment use diffe...

Following left brachial plexus avulsion, a 20-year-old man had phantom limb pain and remapping of sensation from his paralyzed hand onto his face. Mirror therapy (15 min daily, 5 days/week) led immediately to good movement of the phantom limb with decreased pain. Within 2 weeks following nerve graft surgery, remapping of hand sensation onto the face disappeared along with resolution of phantom ...

Phantom-limb pain is a common sequela of amputation, occurring in up to 80% of people who undergo the procedure. It must be differentiated from non-painful phantom phenomena, residual-limb pain, and non-painful residual-limb phenomena. Central changes seem to be a major determinant of phantom-limb pain; however, peripheral and psychological factors may contribute to it. A comprehensive model of...

Following limb amputation patients continue to feel the vivid presence of a phantom limb. A majority of patients also experience pain in the phantom and sometimes (as in our case DS) the pain is severe. Remarkably we find that optically 'resurrecting' the phantom with a mirror and using a lens to make the phantom appear to shrink caused the pain to 'shrink' as well.

This study presents data on the clinical characteristics and possible mechanisms of the phantom eye syndrome in 112 patients after removal of one eye. The prevalence of phantom eye pain was 26%, nonpainful phantom sensations 29%, and visual hallucinations 31%. Headaches and preoperative eye pain were associated with the presence of phantom experiences. These results suggest that pain is an impo...

Phantom pain after arm amputation is widely believed to arise from maladaptive cortical reorganization, triggered by loss of sensory input. We instead propose that chronic phantom pain experience drives plasticity by maintaining local cortical representations and disrupting inter-regional connectivity. Here we show that, while loss of sensory input is generally characterized by structural and f...

two patients with phantom pain were selected for the study. after a positive response to segmental nerve blockade at the l4 and l5 nerve roots, prf was performed on the l4 and l5 dorsal root ganglia. global clinical improvement was good in one patient, with a 40% decrease in pain on the visual analogue scale (vas) in 6 months, and moderate in the second patient, with a 30% decrease in pain scor...

Phantom limb pain (PLP) in amputees is associated with reorganizational changes in the somatosensory system. To investigate the relationship between somatosensory and motor reorganization and phantom limb pain, we used focal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex and neuroelectric source imaging of the somatosensory cortex (SI) in patients with and without phantom limb pain...