Studies in autotomy: its pathophysiology and usefulness as a model of chronic pain.

An interesting behavioral syndrome results in animals from the same or similar types of lesions that lead to deafferentation pain in humans; many neurectomized animals begin to scratch, bite, or self-mutilate their denervated limb, a phenomenon termed autotomy. The proposition that this behavior in animals is a response to the chronic pain of peripheral nerve injury has met with considerable controversy. If this issue were resolved, then a better understanding of the neurophysiology of autotomy might help elucidate the mechanisms of the human conditions.

Comparison of subjective and objective analgesic effects of intravenous and intrathecal morphine in chronic pain patients by heat beam dolorimetry.

The pain tolerance latencies of 10 chronic pain patients were evaluated by heat beam dolorimetry (stimulus intensity 15.33 mW.cm-2.

Chronic pain assessment using heat beam dolorimetry.

The heat beam dolorimeter (HBD) was developed to evaluate cutaneous pain thresholds in humans. In the present study, the hypothesis that a patient's underlying pain status affects his pain tolerance to an incident HBD stimulus was tested. Twenty-seven chronic pain patients with a variety of clinical problems unresponsive to conventional algological therapy were scheduled for neurosurgical procedures.