CRPS, the parietal cortex and neurocognitive dysfunction: an emerging triad.

摘要

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a puzzling disease. It is a disabling chronic pain disorder that can develop following fractures, limb trauma or lesions of the peripheral or central (CNS) nervous system [6]. The clinical picture includes a characteristic clinical triad of symptoms including autonomic (disturbances of skin temperature, colour, presence of sweating abnormalities), sensory (pain and hyperalgesia) and motor disturbances [6]. Despite substantial progress over the last years, the underlying path-ophysiology is still not fully understood. There is evidence for a pathological crosstalk between the sympathetic and the nocicep-tive system ("sympathetically maintained pain"), endothelial dysfunction and also aberrant inflammation. Furthermore, there is accumulating evidence that CNS changes underlie distinct symptoms of this disease [6].