Phantom limb pain: cortical plasticity and novel therapeutic approaches

Phantom limb pain is still a very frequent consequence of peripheral deafferentation or amputation of a limb. Recent findings from animal and neuroimaging studies suggest that phantom limb pain might be a central phenomenon, related to changes in the cortical, thalamic and spinal representation of the painful limb, and might be a type of somatosensory pain memory. Based on these assumptions, new treatment approaches focus on sensory discrimination training or motor cortex stimulation in an effort to influence cortical reorganization. Prevention of perpetuation of a somatosensory pain memory might also be possible through pharmacological agents such as N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists and gamma-aminobutyric acid agonists, substances that have been shown to influence and prevent cortical reorganization.