[Painful stumps after digital amputations]

Two etiologic groups of painful digital amputation stumps may be seen, each calling for a different type of treatment. One-fourth of painful amputation stumps are due to excessive nociperception and their management usually consists of local treatment. The other three-fourths are due to thalamic sensitive deafferentation and call for neurosurgical treatment if discriminative sensitivity has not been reestablished in the painful zone. Intermittent thalamic stimulation is our choice and has led to recovery in 25 out of 26 patients who have been submitted to this type of treatment.