NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF PAIN

Neurophysiological techniques for the evaluation of pain in humans hav e made important advances in the last decade. A number of features of neuroanatomy and physiology of nociception qualifies pain as a multidi mensional phenomenon which is rather unique among the sensory systems and which poses a number of technical and procedural requirements for its appropriate diagnostic assessment. Various stimulation techniques to induce defined pain in humans and used in combination with the meth odology of evoked electrical brain potentials and magnetic fields are presented. Most recent knowledge gathered from scalp topography and di pole source analysis of pain-relevant evoked potentials and fields is discussed. Particular emphasis is put upon laser-evoked potentials and their application for diagnosis, pathophysiological description and m onitoring of patients with neurological disorders and abnormal pain st ates. Future perspectives in this growing field of research are discus sed briefly. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserve d.