Altered cortical somatosensory processing in chronic stroke: A relationship with post-stroke shoulder pain

Abstract

Post-stroke shoulder pain (PSSP), traditionally regarded as purely nociceptive pain, is often persistent and the mechanisms underlying the pain complaints are not well understood. This explorative study is the first to address the possible changes in cortical somatosensory processing in patients with PSSP. Cortical potentials were recorded following intracutaneous electrostimulaton in stroke patients with chronic PSSP (n= 6), pain-free stroke patients (PF, n=14) and healthy controls (HC, n=20) using EEG. Amplitudes and latencies of both sensory discriminative (N90) as well as cognitive evaluative (N150, P200, the N150-P200 peak-to-peak difference and P300) evoked potential components were ev..