DORSAL COLUMN ELECTROHYPALGESIA

ANATOMICAL PAIN pathways have been thought to be well known for many years. It has long been thought that pain information is transmitted into the spinal cord where is crosses within four spinal segments to the opposite anterolateral quadrant of the cord. Fibers are supposed then to travel in the anterolateral quadrant of the spinal cord to the thalamus. Such simplicity of anatomical evidence gained from almost ancient degenerative studies totally ignore the unmyelineated nature of most pain input fibers. Even more important, the majority of fibers within the cord make multiple synaptic connections so that degeneration studies are doomed from the beginning. The mere fact that some degeneration is seen leading to the thalamus after anterolateral cord section is hardly proof that these fibers are at all concerned specifically with pain.