Definition
A variant of nociceptive pain (pain resulting from ongoing activation of primary afferent neurons by noxious stimuli), protopathic pain is transmitted by C fibers to the spinal cord. C-fibers are unmyelinated, small-diameter, and slow-conducting, resulting in poorly localized, dull, aching pain. The fibers are sensitive to mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimuli, resulting in diffuse pain which is particularly sensitive to opioid therapy.
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McCaffery, M., & Pasero, C. (1999). Pain clinical manual (2nd ed.). St. Louis: Mosby.
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Donnelly, K. (2018). Protopathic Pain. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_777
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_777
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