Pain Related to Nerve Trauma

Abstract

Untreatable pain related to a peripheral nerve trauma often results in complete social isolation of the patient. Many physicians tend to attach the label “psychologically peculiar” to persons with chronic pain that is more or less resistant to treatment. But what kind of treatment is really available if a nerve lesion causes more severe pain than first expected? It is not the purpose of this chapter to repeat all the facts and theories on the development of particularly severe pain following nerve damage, referred to as chronic neuropathic pain or causalgia: the literature discusses centrally located biochemical reactions and — with regard to the course of the sympathetic nerve system — newly occurring synaptic contacts between neighboring axons. Details can be derived from Wall’s and Melzack’s 1994 book showing that many unsolved questions remain for further research.