A new study has challenged the long-held notion that the brain reorganizes itself when a body part is amputated. The research, published in Nature Neuroscience, analyzed the brain activation of three individuals before and after they underwent amputation of one hand. The results show that the brain map of the body remains highly preserved, even after limb loss.
The study’s findings have significant implications for the development of prosthetics and treating phantom limb pain. Because the brain map remains stable, individuals who lose a limb do not lose the concept of that limb, making them eligible for neural prosthetic or brain-computer interface systems. This opens up new pathways for treatment options, including potential therapies to alleviate phantom limb pain.
The research used fMRI scans to compare the brain activity of the participants before and after amputation. The results showed no significant changes in the brain map, contrary to previous theories that suggested reorganization of the body’s sensory information following limb loss. This challenges the traditional explanation for phantom limb pain, which was thought to be linked to changes in higher cortical structures.
The study’s lead author notes that this research may also inform treatment options for phantom limb pain. Existing therapies were based on the idea that they could reverse the reorganization of brain maps that occurs after amputation. However, new treatments are needed as these therapies have been shown to be ineffective.
The study’s limitations include its small sample size of three participants. Future studies will aim to replicate these findings in larger cohorts and explore what happens when the amputation occurs at an earlier stage or affects lower-extremity amputations.
Source: https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/21/study-brain-change-after-amputation-phantom-pain