Definition

Syndrome (set of symptoms) pain felt by the patient at the level of the amputated limb.

Classification

There are several varieties of pain. Beyond the pain of type algohallucinose, it can be also of pain secondary to local anesthesia of hyperpathia, Zona, electric shocks.

Symptoms

Phantom limb pain is generally very intense or even disabling. It is pain of deafferentation (in English desafferentation bread), appearing in the presence of a lesion of the peripheral nervous system. They are seen outside any objective painful sensation, that is, the patient should not, theoretically, have poorly since no nociceptive (nerve impulses in relation to pain) stimulus is present.

Treatment

Treatment usually involves to painkillers more or less major and, on failure, the électroanalgésie. Method for the treatment of chronic pain, Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (NSTC) uses the neurostimulation to electrical stimulation of the nervous system. This method is appreciated by about half of patients who continue to use it after six months. Some techniques of Mesotherapy without use of corticosteroids also give to good average results. A new technique called mental simulation seems to make an early solution to this type of pathology. It is reshaping the activity of the brain to treat pathologies to neuronal dysfunction (malfunction). The technique is to implement a visual illusion to extinguish or sift phantom pain which is caused by the Member with an injury. More specifically it is present in the patient a picture of its Member damaged “in motion”. In this way the patient a sense again, to give some orders to this member. Thanks to a particular video technique, the illusion is complete. Initially the idea comes from an Indian researcher: Vilayanur s. Ramachandran researcher at San Diego (California, USA) which, in 1996 had the idea to use a system of mirrors to fool the brain to treat pain due to an amputation, a burn, a fracture of a member among others. The purpose of the technique is to give the illusion the brain the paralysed Member moves again. In this way we arrive to break the link between the movement and pain.

Bibliography

Science and life, the wonders of science, editions Tana, 2005.