Microelectrode findings in the thalamus in chronic pain and other conditions.

Functional neurosurgery usually requires physiological corroboration of the target site, particularly by eliciting characteristic responses to stimulation, or else by microelectrode recording of single cell responses to appropriate stimuli. Understanding pain physiology with both strategies has proven elusive, particularly microelectrode recording in response to noxious or thermal stimuli. The limited experience with stimulation and recording in pain pathways of the brain will be reviewed as well as the apparently pathophysiological observations made in certain patients with neuropathic pain.