Phantom limb study rewires our understanding of the brain
NIH scientists and collaborators reveal the brain preserves its representation of lost limb in clinical study
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers found that the brain’s control center for a lost appendage can persist long after surgical amputation, which stands in stark contrast to longstanding theories about the brain’s ability to reorganize itself, also known as plasticity. Scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their colleagues examined human brain activity before and after arm amputation and found that the loss of a limb does not prompt a large-scale cerebral overhaul. Published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, this study offers new insight into the mysterious phantom limb syndrome and could help guide the development of neuroprosthetics and pain treatments for people with limb loss.
A team of scientists from NIH and University College London acted on a unique window of opportunity, running MRI scans on three participants in the months prior to a planned amputation (performed for separate medical purposes) and then up to five years after.
“It’s not often you get the chance to conduct a study like this one, so we wanted to be exceedingly thorough,” said co-author Chris Baker, Ph.D., of NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “We approached our data from a variety of angles and all of our results tell a consistent story.”
During MRI scans, participants moved their hand (pre-amputation) or phantom (post-amputation), as well as their lips (both before and after). Brain maps of the hand (red) and lips (blue) are shown for two pre-amputation scans (pre1, pre2) and multiple post-amputation time points: 3 months, 6 months, and 1.5 years. The maps look the same at each point, demonstrating the stability of the brain's body map after amputation.
This page was last updated on Thursday, August 21, 2025