Functional Neuroanatomy of Pain (Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology, Vol. 184)

Pain is an unpleasant but very important biological signal for danger. Nociception is necessary for survival and maintaining the integrity of the organism in a potentially hostile environment. Pain is both a sensory experience and a perceptual metaphor for damage and it is activated by noxious stimuli that act on a complex pain sensory apparatus. However, chronic pain having no more a protective role can become a ruining disease itself, termed "neuropathic pain".

Table of contents

Introduction.- Functional neuroanatomy of the pain system.- Primary afferent neuron.- Distribution of nociceptor peripheral endings.- Termination in the spinal cord and spinal trigeminal nucleus.- Ascending pathways of the spinal cord and of the STN.- Dorsal column nuclei and nociception.- Cerebellum and nociception.- Cortices involved in pain perception and thalamocortical projection.- Descending modulatory pathways.- Neuropathic pain.- Central changes consequent to peripheral nerve injury.- The role of glial cells.- Neuropathology of herpes zoster (HZ) and of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).- Diabetic neuropathic pain.- Cancer neuropathic pain.- Central neuropathic pain.- Concluding remarks.- Summary.- Subject index.