Two cases of neurectomy for severe neuralgia / by F.T. Paul.

  • Paul, F. T. (Frank Thomas), 1851-1941.
Date:
[1891]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Two cases of neurectomy for severe neuralgia / by F.T. Paul. 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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    Ttoo Gases of Neurectomy for Severe Neuralgia. By F. T. Paul, F.R.C.S., Surgeon, Royal Infirmary. In May 1890, Dr Hawkes of this city asked me to see, in con- sultation with him, a gentleman whose life was wrecked by facial neuralgia. He was still in the prime of life, of good general health, of buoyant and somewhat excitable disposition; but with marked fortitude, resolutely bearing the pain of his disorder, as well as that also very severe, incidental to surgical treatment. Dr Hawkes first met with his patient in 1872, he being at the time under treatment for neuralgia. Previous to this Mr A. had been somewhat exposed to hardships whilst travelling, and had contracted ague, which left the spleen enlarged for several years. He was treated with large doses of qumine, and ultimately recovered entirely. Dr Hawkes, in writing of the case, says :—“ As early as 1872-3 . I had to throw my own ideas of morphia to the winds, and although this is the only case of which I could say so, I have never withheld morphia from him when the pain became unbear- able. I have never exceeded J of a grain, beginning with ; but he has often had -g to gr. night and morning for two or three weeks at a time. When I say that he has been treated at my instigation by the highest of our dilutions and the lowest, and by the best men of our school, I need hardly mind admitting that a summer or so ago I sent him to the care of Dr Radcliffe, who prescribed large doses of liq. arsenicalis, change of air (the Yorkshire moors), and Italian dietary. These remedies were but of the slightest use, and he soon lapsed again into the employment of the latest recommendation of some fellow-sufferer; or into the use of bromide, chloral, or croton-chloral. Hypnotism had a fair but not prolonged trial, and my friend who manipulated thought that the paroxysms were less frequent while the necessary passes were being made. Stimulants had a fair trial too, and when all else failed, a stiff