PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF HYPERALGESIA IN THE CAUSALGIC PAIN SYNDROME

Preliminary observations of a study on the pathophysiology of hyperalgesia in the causalgic pain syndrome show that the multiunit sympathetic activity had qualitatively normal characteristics, both at rest and in response to arousal stimuli and mental stress, which are known to increase cutaneous sympathetic activity in normal subjects.

Abstract

This chapter presents preliminary observations of a study on the pathophysiology of hyperalgesia in the causalgic pain syndrome. There were four patients, two males and two females, 25–50 years of age. At the time of investigation, they had suffered from causalgia for 3–10 years. In the males, the causalgia developed after crush injuries to the right foot in one case and the right hand in the other. In one female, causalgia occurred in the left half of the chest after mastectomy with axillary dissection. The other female developed causalgia twice, the first time in the left hand and forearm after surgical damage to the lateral cutaneous nerve of the forearm, and the second time in the left shoulder following the sympathectomy that relieved the pain in her hand and forearm. The multiunit sympathetic activity had qualitatively normal characteristics, both at rest and in response to arousal stimuli and mental stress, which are known to increase cutaneous sympathetic activity in normal subjects.