[Phantom perception and phantom pain]

"Phantom limb" is a well-known phenomenon following loss or amputation of a limb. The limb still seems to be present, although it is no longer there, but the sensation is not associated with pain. Less well-known are the phenomena of autosomatognosis and pain after the loss of other parts of the body such as the genital parts or after partial or complete deafferentiations as in a traumatic transverse syndrome, lesion of the brachial plexus, or lesions of the CNS. Although many hypotheses have been advanced to explain the pathophysiological mechanisms resulting in these phenomena, the pathogenetic fundamentals have not been properly clarified to date. That is also why manifold approaches have evolved to treat phantom limb pain. The authors survey the literature published so far on this subject and report on their own studies. This gives an overall view of the many aspects of autosomatognosis, phantom limb pain, hypotheses on pathophysiology, and the currently employed treatment strategies.