The body scheme is a complex of memory patterns secured in the structures of the brain, where the parietal lobes play the most important role. Basic principles are given by the genetic programming of the structure and function along with the synthesis of information brought by means of sensory activity. The unitary perception of the body scheme is a dynamic image, enabling conscious and unconscious representation of our body, its parts, their functions, position, shape and/or movements. The recognition of the body scheme in humans is named somatognosia. Disorders of somatognosia include visceral and somatic phantom, phantom pain and other disorders related to the capability of communication by means of language: autotopoagnosia, hemiasomatognosia, pain asymboly, anosognosia of hemiplegia, anosognosia of blindness, deafness, neglect and other defects appearing at the neurologist’s and psychiatrist‘s borderline of interest. Interest in the visceral phantom is usually much smaller than that in the phantom limb. The aim of this paper was to draw the to phantom phenomena in patients following rectum amputation and colostomy. A survey of contemporary knowledge about the body scheme and its disorders, cortical plasticity and the problem of cortical maladaptation are presented.

        Key words: phantom pain, visceral and somatic phantom, somatognosia, body scheme, cortical plasticity.