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The lateral and medial pain systems are affected differently in Alzheimer’s disease. Both the primary somatosensory cortex and some thalamic nuclei, which belong to the lateral pain system, are relatively unaffected by the histological changes that characterize Alzheimer’s disease, thus indicating that a preserved sensory-discriminative function should be expected. By contrast, the intralaminar thalamic nuclei, …
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Today we know that there is not a pain center in which the final pain experience emerges, but rather there is a distributed system that is made up of an intricate network of cortical and subcortical areas, each with some specific functions. This network is often referred to as the “pain matrix.” The organization of …
Placebo effects can be very effective in certain pain conditions, but their use is still highly controversial. Several studies show that patients would accept a placebo treatment under certain circumstances, particularly when they are informed prior to the treatment or when there are no effective treatment alternatives. This study examines the question, which factors influence the degree of acceptability of a hypothetical placebo application.
Let's say that you stub your toe. Nerves in the toe known as nociceptors, tasked with sensing pain, go into action. They send messages to the spinal cord that pain has occurred; the worse the stub, the more rapidly and powerfully they fire. The spinal cord then releases neurotransmitters to the brain's thalamus, communicating with the …
The vast amount of research over the past decades has significantly added to our knowledge of phantom limb pain. Multiple factors including site of amputation or presence of pre-amputation pain have been found to have a positive correlation with the development of phantom limb pain. The paradigms of proposed mechanisms have shifted over the past years from the psychogenic theory to peripheral and central neural changes involving cortical reorganization. More recently, the role of mirror neurons in the brain has been proposed in the generation of phantom pain. A wide variety of treatment approaches have been employed, but mechanism-based specific treatment guidelines are yet to evolve. Phantom limb pain is considered a neuropathic pain, and most treatment recommendations are based on recommendations for neuropathic pain syndromes. Mirror therapy, a relatively recently proposed therapy for phantom limb pain, has mixed results in randomized controlled trials. Most successful treatment outcomes include multidisciplinary measures. This paper attempts to review and summarize recent research relative to the proposed mechanisms of and treatments for phantom limb pain.