Chronic pain as a reticular formation syndrome. Andy OJ.
AbstractEvidence was previously presented to support the thesis that chronic pain is activated by neuronal elements that make up the multisynaptic short axon core of the reticular system (Andy and Peeler 1985). The present thesis, that chronic pain is a reticular formation syndrome, is based on a retrospective analysis of four patients with chronic pain who were successfully treated with a lesion in the anterior thalamus and stimulation electrode implants in the posterior thalamus and pontomesencephalic brain stem. The reticular formation was the common underlying anatomic substrate at those three sites. In addition to chronic pain, all the patients had other symptoms attributable to other body organs and systems. The number and type of symptoms that made up the syndrome differed between patients. Symptoms making up the core of the syndrome were pain, anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, and depression. Experimental and clinical findings are briefly presented to demonstrate the various reticular formation sites, pragmatically considered "reticular functional systems," from which symptoms may arise. It is hypothesized that the symptoms are recruited by a low threshold "pain oscillator" that is generated at one reticular site and subsequently permeates the rest of the reticular system. Therapeutic stimulation inactivates the low threshold system by "jamming" it.
Stimulation of the reticular formation results in increased consciousness.
the brain area that regulated activities that control the state of wakefulness or alertness of the cerebral cortex is the
yes
the reticular formation
Limbic System
increased consciousness
Reticular formation
Reticular formation.
reticular formation
damage to the Reticular Formation can result in prolonged coma, minor epilepsy, or narcolepsy.
The Reticular Formation alerts a person who is driving along and brings them to full attention when a car pulls out in front of them.
reticular formation