Abstract
The term ‘phantom limb pain’ was first used by Silas Weir
Mitchell, an active surgeon during the 19th century Civil War [1].
However, the concept of pain being perceived by the region of a
body that is no longer present was in fact first described way before
Silas’s time by Ambrose Pare [2] who served as a surgeon in the
French military armada in the 16th century. To describe it simply,
it refers to either the sensation of a limb still present at the site
of an amputation or the presence of intense pain at site of the
missing extremity. Often times, both sensations have been reported
by amputees in literature. Despite recent literature reporting the
incidence of this phenomenon in up to 70-80% of amputees [3], it
still remains a poorly understood and difficult to manage condition.
With statistics showing an ever increasing incidence of limb loss
occurring in US [4], it becomes of utmost importance that surgeons,
anesthesiologists and patients are well aware of this phenomenon
prior to conducting amputations for affected extremities. Phantom
Limb Pain can consist of a complex of three different entities that
can either co-exist or be present separately [5].
Phantom Limb Pain: What do we know so far? by Azeem Tariq Malik in BJSTR
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