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.

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    tion of that nerve: and the query was how to account for the sudden reappearance of sensation in this crucial case. A be- lief in immediate reunion could not be accepted, for the expe- riments of Phillepeaux and Yulpian had conclusively proved that a much longer time must elapse before a nerve, even if placed in the most favorable circumstances, could unite, while according to Muller’s theories the solution ot this perplexing riddle could only be obtained by assuming the existence of an anomalous distribution of the radial and ulnar nerves. But, notwithstanding this conclusion, equivalent to apetitioprin- cipii, Riehet, in 1867, after having had an opportunity of studying a case similar to the preceding, accounted tor the prompt return of sensation after section of the median nerve by the presence in the peripheral end of the nerve of recurrent or anastomotic fibers derived from the radial and the ulnar nerves—a theory which, in the light of modern discoveries, is altogether correct. Such a theory stands the test of facts, and M. Claude Ber- nard, in his report to the Academy of Sciences upon the labors of MM. Arloing and Tripier in 1875, said : “ This study of recurrent sensibility of nerves is not only interesting from the standpoint of experimental physiology, but this property of nerves also accounts for many clinical phenomena, which can not otherwise be explained.” In a paper read before the Academy of Sciences, these two physiologists embodied the results of their experiments, which were made upon the toe of a dog, to verify the correct- ness of their hypothesis as to the existence of recurrent centri- petal fibers in the terminal nerve plexuses of the body, some- what as follows : Three of the four nerves of the toe were carefully cut, and an hour or so afterward sensibility to pain and touch was found at all points of the toe. The preservation of only one of the nerves was sufficient to convey to the sensorium impressions made upon any part of the toe. This persistence of sensation in all the parts of the toe could only be accounted for by supposing that fibers (recur- rent, centripetal fibers) derived from the uncut nerve existed 111 territory of the cut nerves, and through them commu-