Lack of pain in schizophrenia: a patient whose arm was burned and amputated.

Diminished pain sensitivity or loss of pain sensation in schizophrenic patients has previously been reported. We report an interesting case of a schizophrenia patient who had the disease for 20 years and who had his forearm amputated below the elbow level due to severe burn injury to his muscles, tendons, nerve fibers and bone tissue, caused by direct exposure to flames from a liquefied petroleum gas cylinder, in an attempt to make himself warm during a medicine-free period with active symptoms and without pain sensation.