What is the advantage of classifying pain? Classification provides the clinician with invaluable information about the possible origin of the pain, as well as possible mechanisms underlying it. More importantly, it directs the health care practitioner toward a proper treatment plan in general; this is especially relevant when considering pharmacologic approaches. For example, neuropathic pain …
What is the World Health Organization ladder? In the 1980s the World Health Organization (WHO) published guidelines for the control of pain in cancer patients. These guidelines correlate intensity of pain to pharmacologic intervention: Mild pain (step 1) requires non-opioid analgesics with or without adjuvant medications. If the patient does not respond to treatment or …
What is meant by psychogenic pain? Psychogenic pain is presumed to exist when no nociceptive or neuropathic mechanism can be identified and there are sufficient psychologic symptoms to meet criteria for somatoform pain disorder, depression, or another Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) diagnostic category commonly associated with complaints of pain. As mentioned previously, psychogenic …
Phantom limb phenomena A phantom limb sensation is a nonpainful perception of the continued presence of an amputated limb. It is part of a deafferentation syndrome, in which there is loss of sensory input secondary to amputation. Phantom limb pain describes painful sensations that are perceived in the missing limb. Phantom limb sensation is more …
What is the difference between complex regional pain syndromes I and II? According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), complex regional pain syndrome I (CRPS I; formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy) is defined as “continuous pain in a portion of an extremity after trauma, which may include fracture but does …
Difference between complex regional pain syndromes Read More »
Examples of deafferentation pain Deafferentation pain is a subdivision of neuropathic pain that may complicate virtually any type of injury to the somatosensory system at any point along its course. Examples include well-defined syndromes precipitated by peripheral (phantom limb) or central (thalamic pain) lesions. In all of these conditions, pain usually occurs in a region …
How to distinguish between paresthesia and dysesthesia? Paresthesia is described simply as a nonpainful altered sensation (e.g., numbness). Dysesthesia is an altered sensation that is painful (e.g., painful numbness).