Relief from intractable phantom pain by combining psilocybin and mirror visual-feedback (MVF)
Neurocase – March 04, 2018
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Psilocybin combined with mirror-visual-feedback completely eliminated phantom limb pain, a major advance in pain management. This physical medicine and rehabilitation breakthrough revealed the brain's phantom limb map: touching a volunteer's leg evoked organized sensations. An illusion of removing a "nail" fastener also relieved specific pain. These insights into psychology, imaging the phantom, action observation, and the placebo effect offer new medicine avenues within psychedelics and drug studies, informing body representation, even the forehead.
Abstract
AL's leg was amputated resulting in phantom-limb pain (PLP). (1) When a volunteer placed her foot on or near the phantom - touching it evoked organized sensations in corresponding locations on AL's phantom. (2) Mirror-visual-feedback (MVF) relieved PLP, as did, "phantom massage". (3) Psilocybin-MVF pairing produced synergistic effects, complete elimination of PLP, and reduction in paroxysmal episodes. (4) Touching the volunteer's leg where AL previously had external fixators, evoked sensation of nails boring through the leg. Using a "telescoping" nail, we created the illusion of a nail being removed with corresponding pain relief. (5) Artificial flames produced warmth in the phantom.