Caloric Vestibular Stimulation Reduces Pain and Somatoparaphrenia in a Severe Chronic Central Post-Stroke Pain Patient: A Case Study.

ABSTRACT: Central post-stroke pain is a neuropathic syndrome characterized by intolerable contralesional pain and, in rare cases, somatic delusions. To date, there is limited evidence for the effective treatments of this disease. Here we used caloric vestibular stimulation to reduce pain and somatoparaphrenia in a 57-year-old woman suffering from central post-stroke pain. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess the neurological effects of this treatment. Following vestibular stimulation we observed impressive improvements in motor skills, pain, and somatic delusions. In the functional connectivity study before the vestibular stimulation, we observed differences in the patient's left thalamus functional connectivity, with respect to the thalamus connectivity of a contro

SUBMITTER: Spitoni GF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4814090 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature