ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on clinical characteristics, mechanisms, treatment, and possible preventive measures for pain after limb amputation. The first medical descriptions of postamputation phenomena were published in the sixteenth century by such authors as Ambroise Pare, Rene Descartes, Aaron Lemos, and Charles Bell. Historically, Silas Weir Mitchell is credited with coining the term “phantom limb.” In Injuries of Nerves and their Consequences he presented results from clinical studies of amputees and approached phantom limbs physiologically, experimentally, and therapeutically. Prospective studies in patients amputated mainly because of peripheral vascular disease have shown that the onset of phantom pain is usually within the first week after amputation. Phantom pain is episodic in nature, and only few amputees are in constant pain. Diary studies have shown that most amputees report pain attacks occur daily or at daily or weekly intervals. Phantom pain can have several different qualities and is often described as shooting, pricking, stabbing, throbbing, burning, pin and needles, crushing, or cramping.
