Deafferentation pain

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What is deafferentation pain? 

Deafferentation pain occurs in the setting of disruption of an afferent connection to the peripheral tissue.

For example, this type of pain can occur in the setting of amputation, where nerves are transected and a limb or body part is missing, as well as brachial plexus avulsion injury and postherpetic neuralgia wherein the varicella zoster virus has destroyed the afferent input to second-order neurons. 

Sources

Mendell LM, Wall PD: Responses to single dorsal horn cells to peripheral cutaneous unmyelinated fibers. Nature 206:97-99, 1965.

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