Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Deafferentation pain in man.

W H Sweet1

  • 1Neurosurgical Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Applied Neurophysiology
|January 1, 1988
PubMed
Summary

Distinguishing pain from neurological injury versus compression is difficult using verbal descriptions alone. Detailed characterization of painful lesions is crucial for advancing pain research and treatment.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The handling of the intracranial tumor suspect.

Bulletin. New England Medical Center Hospital·2010
Same author

Cerebral hemangioma, right frontal lobe.

The New England journal of medicine·2010
Same author

Repetitive movements on basal ganglia stimulation after transection of cerebral peduncles.

Federation proceedings·2010
Same author

The unconscious patient.

Canadian Medical Association journal·2010
Same author

Relief of pain by operations on the central nervous system.

The Surgical clinics of North America·2010
Same author

Early history of development of boron neutron capture therapy of tumors.

Journal of neuro-oncology·1997

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Pain Medicine
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Verbal pain descriptions often overlap, hindering differentiation between neurological injury and compression pain.
  • Current classifications based on sensory loss and pain are insufficient for determining pain mechanisms or guiding treatment.
  • Progress in pain management necessitates a deeper understanding of specific painful lesion types.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the limitations of current pain classification systems.
  • To advocate for detailed characterization of painful lesions.
  • To explore innovative approaches for understanding pain etiology.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of overlapping verbal pain descriptions.
  • Review of clinical cases involving brachial plexus injury, trigeminal procedures, and postcordotomy dysesthesia.
  • Application of regional guanethidine block for central pain.
  • Drawing parallels with concepts from elementary particle physics.

Main Results:

  • Verbal descriptions alone cannot reliably distinguish between pain from neurological injury and compression.
  • Sensory loss combined with pain does not provide a valid basis for classification or treatment decisions.
  • Detailed lesion characterization is essential for advancing pain understanding.

Conclusions:

  • A shift towards detailed characterization of painful lesions is needed.
  • Innovative approaches, potentially inspired by physics, may offer new insights into pain mechanisms.
  • Effective pain management requires moving beyond subjective descriptions to objective lesion analysis.

Related Experiment Videos