RAPID SENSORY REMAPPING IN THE ADULT HUMAN BRAIN AS INFERRED FROM PHANTOM BREAST PERCEPTION

WE provide evidence for a perceptual marker of neuroplasticity in fema le mastectomy patients who reported phantom breast perceptions, When t actile stimuli were delivered to dorso-thoracic, shoulder and pinna re gions ipsilateral to the mastectomy, these patients (in some cases eve n 5 days after the operation) referred the stimuli to the amputated br east mainly to the nipple. The somatosensory representation of the sti mulated regions is probably adjacent to the former representation of t he amputated breast. These results suggest that input from stimulated regions of the skin can drive neurones originally driven by input from the amputated breast. The apparent functional relation between pinna and nipple might give clues to the mechanisms underlying referred sens ations and pain.