Pain affect without pain sensation in a patient with a postcentral lesion.

We report findings from clinical examination and cutaneous laser stimulation in a 57-year-old male, who suffered from a right-sided postcentral stroke. In this patient, we were able to demonstrate (i) a dissociation of discriminative and affective components of pain perception and, for the first time in humans, (ii) the dependence of sensory-discriminative pain component and first pain sensation on the integrity of the lateral pain system.