Sensibility Abnormalities in Neuralgic Patients Studied By Thermal and Tactile Pulse Stimulation

Summary

Six patients with neuralgia and disturbed thermosensibility were examined with graded thermal and mechanical pulses which were applied in the pain area and in contralateral normal skin for comparison. In five patients stimuli in the non-noxious range evoked pain. Reaction times were modality specific which suggests that the pathophysiology of the abnormal stimulus-evoked pain sensations was central although the original lesion was in the peripheral nerve. With repetitive stimulation habituation of sensation was observed in five patients and abnormal summation in two. It was concluded that pulsed natural stimuli may be valuable in further analyses of the mechanisms of sensory dysfunction and pain, and possibly also in clinical evaluation.