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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    5. That failures, following certain cases of resection of nerves for the cure of peripheral neuralgia, are no arguments against the method of operation, but indicate an enoi ot diag- nosis as to the location of the cause : 6. That an atrophy, a degeneration, an inflammation, scle- rosis, neuroma, exostosis, periostitis, a foreign body, or any other cause by which the nutrition of a nerve may be im- paired, produces neuralgias more amenable to treatment if they affect nerve-trunks than if they involve the terminal fila- ments of nerves: 7. That neurectomy is more likely to be successful than neurotomy, if the neuralgia is due to changes in the peri- phery of nerves: 8. That these cases of neuralgia will terminate most favor- ably after an operation if a primary lesion of the nerve cen- ters can not be discovered, and provided the cause producing the neuralgia is at a point sufficiently near to the brain or spinal cord to be free from recurrent fibers of adjacent- nerves : 9. That operations will prove successful according as they are performed sufficiently near to the nerve-centers to include all the direct fibers of the nerve which is diseased, while ex- cluding all the indirect fibers of adjacent nerves. As thus far pursued, the study of neuralgia and of its treat- ment has been, for the most part, a study of the cause and treatment of facial neuralgia; for neuralgia was first recog- nized by Aretee as a distinct disease in connection with pain along the tract of the trifacial, and it was for the cure of a rebellious neuralgia of the face that neurotomy was first per- formed by Marechal, surgeon to Louis XIY. The superior maxillary branch of the trigeminus, which is contained within a bony canal, rendering disturbances of its nutrition by pressure of the slightest degree possible, and which is also connected by Meckel’s ganglion with other nerves of the face, has always been a favorite seat of neuralgia, and has afforded for nearly two centuries opportunities for the display of bold, conservative, successful surgery. No nerve offers more satisfactory and gratifying results than the superior branch of the trifacial nerve when neurec-