Neuromata of large nerves play a secondary rôle in the production of pain in amputation stumps.
The source of the pain is to be sought in the stump scar in which are involved the endings of the pain-conducting finer branches of the cutaneous nerves. The determination of the special cutaneous nerve to which the sensitive filament belongs must be the starting point in treating the pain. This task is not always easy. A better knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the cutaneous nervous system will serve to overcome existing difficulties.
A higher section of the real conductor of pain originating in the stump scar is apt to interrupt pain which may have repeatedly baffled other operative methods.
A new vista is being opened for the treatment of pain in amputation stumps, based on a more thorough study of special pain-conducting nerves which have nothing in common with the nerves carrying other forms of sensibility.