There is some evidence that people with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) show reduced attention to the affected relative to unaffected limb and its surrounding space, resembling hemispatial neglect after brain injury. These neuropsychological symptoms could be related to central mechanisms of pathological pain and contribute to its clinical manifestation. However, the existing evidence of changes in spatial cognition is limited and often inconsistent. We examined visuospatial attention, the mental representation of space, and spatially-defined motor function in 54 people with unilateral upper-limb CRPS and 22 pain-free controls. Contrary to our hypotheses and previous evidence, individuals with CRPS did not show any systematic spatial biases in visuospatial attention to or representation of the side of space corresponding to their affected limb (relative to the unaffected side). We found very little evidence of directional slowing of movements towards the affected relative to unaffected side that would be consistent with motor neglect. People with CRPS were, however, slower than controls to initiate and execute movements with both their affected and unaffected hands, which suggests disrupted central motor networks. Finally, we found no evidence of any clinical relevance of changes in spatial cognition because there were no relationships between the magnitude of spatial biases and the severity of pain or other CRPS symptoms. The results did reveal potential relationships between CRPS pain and symptom severity, subjective body perception disturbance, and extent of motor impairment, which would support treatments focused on normalizing body representation and improving motor function. Our findings suggest that previously reported spatial biases in CRPS might have been overstated.

中文翻译：

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单方面的复杂性区域性疼痛综合征中基于空间的偏见。

有证据表明，相对于未受影响的肢体及其周围空间，患有复杂区域疼痛综合症（CRPS）的人对受累部位的注意力减少，类似于脑损伤后半pat不留。这些神经心理学症状可能与病理性疼痛的中心机制有关，并有助于其临床表现。但是，有关空间认知变化的现有证据有限，而且常常不一致。我们检查了54名单侧上肢CRPS和22例无痛对照患者的视觉空间注意力，空间的心理表征和空间定义的运动功能。与我们的假设和先前的证据相反，患有CRPS的患者在视觉空间上没有表现出任何系统性的空间偏见，也没有表现出与其患肢相对应的空间一侧（相对于未受影响一侧）。我们发现很少有证据表明朝着患侧的运动相对于未患侧的方向减慢，这与运动疏忽相符。但是，患有CRPS的人用受影响和未受影响的手来启动和执行动作的速度要比控件慢，这表明中央运动网络已中断。最后，我们没有发现空间认知变化与临床相关的证据，因为空间偏差的大小与疼痛或其他CRPS症状的严重程度之间没有关系。结果确实揭示了CRPS疼痛与症状严重程度之间的潜在关系，主观的身体知觉障碍和运动障碍的程度，这将支持侧重于正常身体代表和改善运动功能的治疗。我们的发现表明，先前报道的CRPS空间偏差可能被夸大了。