Central Pain Syndromes

Central pain (CP) is a term used to describe pain associated with an insult to the central nervous system (CNS). Clinically, it can be observed as neuropathic pain evolving or persisting in patients with neurologic complications as a result of an injury to the brain or spinal cord. There is a wide spectrum of CP-associated CNS injuries that exist resulting from vascular, infectious, demyelinating, neoplastic, or traumatic etiologies. Most commonly studied conditions associated with CP include spinal cord injury and stroke. The goal of this chapter is to review the pathophysiologic mechanisms, clinical presentation, and current treatment for CP syndromes.