ABOLITION OF PAINFUL PHANTOM FOOT BY RESECTION OF THE SENSORY CORTEX

Abstract

The phenomenon of painful phantom limb following amputation has yet to be explained, but a possible solution to the therapeutic aspect of the problem was submitted by GutierrezMahoney 1 in 1944 when he reported the complete disappearance of painful phantom fingers after resection of the hand projection of the sensory cortex. As early as 1911 Head and Holmes 2 had observed a patient whose painless phantom foot vanished after the development of a destructive lesion of the cerebral hemisphere. The purpose of this paper is to report the case of a patient dramatically relieved of an intensely painful phantom foot by resection of the corresponding portion of the postcentral convolution. REPORT OF CASE J. T., a white man aged 53, complaining of intense pain and numbness in the left foot, was examined at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and found to have impending gangrene due to peripheral vascular disease. On