A case of extensive disease of the cervical vertebrae, with clinical observations on this and some other forms of caries of the spine ; also, A report of an operation for neuralgia / by Buckminster Brown.

  • Brown, Buckminster, 1819-1891.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of extensive disease of the cervical vertebrae, with clinical observations on this and some other forms of caries of the spine ; also, A report of an operation for neuralgia / by Buckminster Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    this branch of the nerve was concerned, the operation was of course successful. The relief, however, was not so complete as had been hoped; and, a considerable degree of pain and susceptibility still continuing through the winter, another operation was decided upon. The patient being again etherized, a puncture was made above the most sensitive spot, just clearing the joint. A subcutaneous opera¬ tion was then performed. A long thin knife was introduced anteriorly and posteriorly, and all the parts from the skin to the bone thoroughly divided; thus semi-girdling the thumb, another puncture was made on the other side, and the same operation repeated. March 13. —- The last operation has been attended with complete success. The extremity of the thumb below the incision, that is, below the second joint, is perfectly numb, and there is no pain in the thumb or hand. April 16. — Mrs. R. has had no return of pain in the thumb or hand; and all that remains to remind her of eighteen years of suffering is a slight shooting pain across the chest at distant inter¬ vals, on exposure to cold, &c. A case somewhat similar to the above is on record, in which the disease was also in the thumb, and was the consequence of a punc¬ ture from a shoemaker’s awl. In this case, the diseased nerve was cut down upon, and a small tubercle (neuroma) was found, and removed with the nerve, to which it was attached, and of which it formed a part. The operation was attended with success. In the case above related, no tubercle was discovered. I am not aware that the method adopted in the last-mentioned operation on Mrs. R., viz. that by which all the nerves proceeding to or from a painful part were divided, thus destroying all possible nervous communication -between the diseased portion of nerve and the central organ of sensation, has ever before been practised. It is, of course, applicable to but a limited number of cases. In this instance, a permanent and entire cure has been the result. The patient at the present date, February, 1853, three years since last operation, is stout, healthy, active, able to use her hand with entire freedom, with not even the slight remnant of pain previously mentioned, to recall her former state of suffering and comparative helplessness.