Analgesia in conjunction with normalisation of thermal sensation following deep brain stimulation for central post-stroke pain.

The aetiology of central post-stroke pain (CPSP) is poorly understood and such pains are often refractory to treatment. We report the case of a 56-year-old man, who, following a temporo-parietal infarct, suffered from debilitating and refractory hemi-body cold dysaesthesia and severe tactile allodynia. This was associated with thermal and tactile hypoaesthesia and hypoalgesia on his affected side.

Homotopic stimulation can reduce the area of allodynia in patients with neuropathic pain.

Allodynia is a common, troublesome feature of neuropathic pain conditions. In a previous study of postherpetic neuralgia we observed that repeated tactile stimulation appeared to reduce the size of the area of allodynia in some patients. We have undertaken a pragmatic clinical study to characterise this phenomenon in neuropathic pain patients with a range of different aetiologies.