China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
The Nervous System and Its Disorders
Published in Walter F. Stanaszek, Mary J. Stanaszek, Robert J. Holt, Steven Strauss, Understanding Medical Terms, 2020
Walter F. Stanaszek, Mary J. Stanaszek, Robert J. Holt, Steven Strauss
The suffix round in "craniectomy" is also used in the term neurectomy, the surgical removal of a nerve tract. Cordotomy (also spelled chordotomy; literally "cutting the spinal cord") is the surgical procedure in which the spinothalamic tracts (nerve tracts from the spine to the thalamus), which conduct pain sensations to the consciousness, are severed in the cervical area; although seldom employed, the procedure can relieve severe pain in the pelvis and legs.
The Physiology of Pain
Published in Bernard J. Dalens, Jean-Pierre Monnet, Yves Harmand, Pediatric Regional Anesthesia, 2019
Bernard Jacques Dalens, Brigitte Storme
The connections of afferent fibers with the interneurons and tracts of the spinal cord have been established from anatomical and electrophysiological studies, which have ascertained the spinal location of ascending nociceptive information. The spinocervical tract (from the spinal cord to the lateral cervical nucleus) and dorsal columns (from the spinal cord to ipsilateral dorsal column nuclei) would probably play an important role in the transmission of pain to supraspinal areas. In their review, Dennis and Melzack19 reported at least six ascending spinal pathways involved in the transmission of pain to the brain. These studies, however, remain incomplete and cannot explain the return of sensitivity to painful stimuli about 2 to 3 months after anterolateral spinal cordotomy. Some other tracts would probably be able to convey the relevant information after the usual paths have been destroyed.
Nerve pain
Published in Wesley C. Finegan, Angela McGurk, Wilma O’Donnell, Jan Pederson, Elizabeth Rogerson, Care of the Cancer Patient, 2018
Wesley C. Finegan, Angela McGurk, Wilma O’Donnell, Jan Pederson, Elizabeth Rogerson
Cordotomy destroys the pain fibres in the spinal cord, and is used only for unilateral pain that is resistant to all other measures. The result is numbness and possible weakness, so this is not a procedure to be undertaken lightly.
Ethical questions arising from Otfrid Foerster’s use of the Sherrington method to map human dermatomes
Published in Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 2022
Brian Freeman, John Carmody, Damian Grace
Other issues arise from the absence of medical histories of the patients; for example, it is not revealed that some patients underwent prior anterolateral cordotomy to reduce pain before undergoing dorsal rhizotomy.17The female patients of Figures 51 and 52 in the 1933 paper were described previously by Foerster and Gagel (1932) as Case 1 (Abb. 13) and Case 17 (Abb. 55), respectively. And it is only when one reads Foerster’s subsequent paper summarizing his life’s work in the treatment of pain (Foerster 1935) that one realizes that many of the patients depicted in the 1933 paper may have undergone both dorsal and ventral rhizotomies. This is significant because the impression given in the Schorstein lecture is that only dorsal roots had been sectioned.
The use of alternative therapies in conjunction with opioids for cancer pain
Published in Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, 2019
Sebastiano Mercadante, Kenneth D. Candido
Retrospective and uncontrolled studies reported that percutaneous cordotomy may reduce pain, also allowing decreasing opioid doses or discontinuing the use of them [31–33]. However, there are no controlled studies and most case series are limited of anecdotal [35–37]. Indeed, complications, are serious and include numbness and dysesthesias below the level of the lesion, hemiparesis, respiratory depression, bladder and bowel dysfunction, and ataxia [30]. Bilateral cordotomy procedures are not recommended due to the risk of respiratory depression. Cordotomy is also contraindicated in the presence of coagulation disorders, infection, chronic respiratory diseases, and an advanced stage of disease [29].
The Hemisection Approach in Large Animal Models of Spinal Cord Injury: Overview of Methods and Applications
Published in Journal of Investigative Surgery, 2020
S. Wilson, S. J. Nagel, L. A. Frizon, D. C. Fredericks, N. A. DeVries-Watson, G. T. Gillies, M. A. Howard
In some cases, localized destructive procedures in the spinal cord, including cordotomy and myelotomy, are used occasionally as palliative treatments for severe, refractory pain. The outcomes from these procedures do offer a glimpse into the repair mechanisms and time course in humans. These procedures and their clinical implementation have been reviewed recently by Konrad [73], as have the biophysical properties of the protective dural layer [74] which must be opened to enable them.