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Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England logoLink to Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England
. 1994 Jan;76(1):22–25.

Phantom pain: natural history and association with rehabilitation.

A D Houghton 1, G Nicholls 1, A L Houghton 1, E Saadah 1, L McColl 1
PMCID: PMC2502176  PMID: 8117013

Abstract

All 338 lower limb amputees under the care of one disablement services centre were asked to assess phantom pain severity at different times after amputation. Of 212 (63%) replies, 13 had died, 22 were non-limb wearers and 22 were unable to complete the questionnaire. In all, 176 useful replies were received--96 below-knee, 74 above-knee and 6 through-knee. Of these, 98 amputations were performed for trauma and 78 for vascular disease. Below-knee amputees rehabilitated better than above-knee amputees (P < 0.05) and traumatic better than vascular amputees (P < 0.0001). Preoperative pain was worse in vascular amputees (P < 0.0005), but there was no significant difference in the amount of phantom-pain experienced by vascular and traumatic amputees. Phantom sensations were experienced by 82% and phantom pain by 78%. Phantom pain decreased with time, was present equally in traumatic and vascular amputees, and was related to the amount of preoperative pain (P < 0.005). Only 22% felt phantom pain had impaired their rehabilitation. Rehabilitation score was related to phantom pain severity at the time of questionnaire completion (P < 0.05), but not at other specified times after operation.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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