Deafferentation pain denotes a type of pain that results from complete or partial interruption of afferent nerve impulses.
This type of pain results from lesions that interrupt the spinothalamic pathways at any level of the nervous system. Deafferentation pain can be caused by lesions of either the CNS (such as thalamic pain, brainstem infarction with bulbar pain, and so on) or peripheral nervous system (such as peripheral nerve injury, trigeminal neuropathic pain, and the like).
Patients with deafferentation pain usually display varying degrees of sensory loss characterized by disturbances in pain and temperature sensation. In addition to objective sensory loss, many patients also experience abnormal sensory phenomena, such as allodynia, hyperalgesia, dysesthesias, and hyperpathia.
See reference for more information. Adapted from Medscape News & Perspective. Motor cortex stimulation for intractable pain. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/554867_2 . Accessed on October 12, 2016. To view the entire article and all other content on the Medscape News and Perspective site, a free, one-time registration is required.