[Pain symptoms in paraplegic patients]

The number of paraplegics who survive their initial trauma by decades is on the increase. A considerable percentage of these patients will, sooner or later, temporarily or permanently, manifest a pain syndrome and/or phantom pain. Accurate differentiation of the disagreeable sensations, which are often difficult to describe (dysesthesia, paresthesia), is frequently a big problem. The pathogenesis still remains unclear, and therapy often proves unsatisfactory.