Neurotomy of the superior maxillary branch of the trigeminus : including neurectomy of the spheno-palatine ganglion for the relief of tic-douloureux / by Frederic S. Dennis.

  • Dennis, Frederic S. (Frederic Shepard), 1850-1934.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Neurotomy of the superior maxillary branch of the trigeminus : including neurectomy of the spheno-palatine ganglion for the relief of tic-douloureux / by Frederic S. Dennis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    10/28 (page 10)
    tomy is performed upon it, provided only the proximal sec- tion ot the nerve be made between Mechel’s ganglion and the foramen rotund urn, so as to include all the direct fibers of the main trunk, while excluding all the recurrent fibers which are derived from the ganglion through its branches of distribution to the superior maxillary nerve. Leaving the consideration of the theory of neurotomy as a cure for facial neuralgia to record the facts, the cases will be classified and arranged chronologically as regards the duration of relief from pain which was obtained by the operation. Tliq first class will include all cases in which the patients continued free from pain for twelve to eighteen months or longer. The second will contain those in which pain recurred at some time between the sixth and the twelfth month. The third will comprise those cases in which relief con- tinued for a period varying from one to six months only. Th % fourth will include all those iu which pain returned during the first month. Th% fifth class will be made up from the cases in which no pain was felt so long as patients remained under observation in hospital or elsewhere, but which, on account of the short time of observation—usually one or two months only—are not evidences for or against the merits of the operation. Finally, in determining the successes, each one must judge according to his ideas of what constitutes success, recollecting that Stromeyer, who represents the views of the bitterest op- ponents of this method as well as of all others which require the use of the knife in the treatment of neuralgia, declares that fourteen months relief from pain does not constitute success, while oil the other hand Letievant, after the analysis of several hundred cases of nerve sections for the cure of neuralgia, states that relapses generally occur during the first few days subsequently to the operation, and that the cures which have survived the first few weeks should be regarded as radical, successful, complete. What are the facts ? Ons. I. Joseph Jones, set. 42, U. S. Dr. James R. A\ ood. —Consulted me at my office March 20, 1S66. He had suf-