Investigation of phantom sensations and a novel treatment for phantom pain in amputees
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Huang, Chi-Yu
Abstract
About 60%~80% of amputees experience phantom limb pain or phantom limb sensation, but the real mechanism is still unclear. One of the theories for phantom limb pain argues that the phantom limb pain is due to the maladaptive plasticity in the central nervous system. However, many phantom limb phenomena including phantom limb sensation still can not be clarified. At present, there is no effective therapy to treat phantom limb pain. Many amputees are still suffering from the phantom limb pain. In this study, we discovered that phantom limb sensation could be induced by applying far infrared ray (FIR) at the phantom limb site, i.e., the location of the amputated absent limb. Accordingly, we proposed a new therapy for phantom limb pain. We applied FIR directly to the phantom pain site specified by the amputee. The results showed that this novel therapy was very effective for phantom pain relief through clinical trials of 16 patients. This therapy quickly reduced the phantom pain for all patients, with 50%-100% decrease of VAS (Visual Analogue Pain Scale) after less than eight treatments while the phantom pain duration shortened 80%-100%. In addition, we also found the dose-response between the analgesic effect and the number of treatments. The VAS dropped from 5.6 ± 3.1 to 0.9 ± 0.8 for all subjects following this new therapy. Further, the side effects have not been observed or reported for patients up to six-year post-treatment follow-ups. We also applied FIR to the ‘phantom sole’ in amputee group and the corresponding ‘intact sole’ in healthy group. By comparing the responses to FIR and sham FIR in patients, we found that meridian responses could be induced by applying FIR at the phantom limb site. In addition, significant responses of 3 meridians that were spleen, kidney and urinary-bladder meridians running through the lower limb in the healthy group were also observed for the corresponding meridians in patient group, implying that the meridian system might be present in the ‘phantom limb’ and help communicate between the ‘phantom limb’ and the intact body. The preliminary resting fMRI result showed a significant decrease of the functional connectivity in the amputee’s postcentral gyrus, indicating a reduction of phantom sensation, in agreement with the amputee’s perception, from a tight and numb to relaxed state after the FIR treatment at the phantom limb site. This result showed that the central nervous system could be activated by applying FIR at the phantom limb site. What really makes this study differ from all current treatments for phantom limb pain is that we reconsider the role of the ‘phantom limb’ at the absent limb site that have been claimed as the origin of the phantom limb pain for hundreds of years by amputees. The results showed that this innovative FIR therapy was very effective for treating the phantom limb pain. Meanwhile, the discovery in this study might inspire researchers to explore the unknown communication system for the ''invisible, amputated part’of human body.
Subjects
phantom limb
phantom sensation
phantom pain
far infrared ray
meridian
SDGs
Type
thesis
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