Neurectasy, or, Nerve-stretching for the relief or cure of pain : being the Bradshaw Lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, on the 6th December 1883 / by John Marshall ; with an appendix by the author, dated March 1887 and 12 illustrations by Victor A.H. Horsley.

  • Marshall, John, 1818-1891.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Neurectasy, or, Nerve-stretching for the relief or cure of pain : being the Bradshaw Lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, on the 6th December 1883 / by John Marshall ; with an appendix by the author, dated March 1887 and 12 illustrations by Victor A.H. Horsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Table showing the results of Nekve-steetching in 512 cases, FOUNDED ON 077lb07li's DATA. Diseases Neuralgias Cranial nerves .... Trunk nerves .... Upper limb Lower limb Spasmodic affections . . Clonic spasms . . . Tonic spasms .... Contractions (permanent) Epilepsy Tetanus Paralyses (peripheral) . . Motor ....... Sensory . Central diseases .... Myelitis Paralysis agitans . . . Athetosis Ataxy Unclassed skin diseases . . Totals (addition of thicker i figures) i Cures Improvements Failures Deaths Cases perma- nent tempo- rary from the disease from the ope- ration 222 143 37 25 17 _ _ 62 31 11 13 7 — 6 4 — 1 1 — — 37 23 9 4 1 — — 117 85 17 7 8 — 1 41 21 5 11 4 — — 25 11 4 9 1 — 13 8 1 2 2 — — 3 2 — 1 — 7 2 2 2 1 — — 51 10 — 11 30 41 1 40 2 36 2 6 2 2 — 2 — 34 — 34 _ — 149 5 49 51 44 7 10 44 1 11 9 23 2 3 4 1 1 — 2 .— _ 2 1 1 — — — .— 99 2 36 42 19 5 7 2 2 — — — — — 512 185 129 100 98 48 12 On comparing this with previously pubHshed Tables, and making every allowance for errors of statement and premature claims as to the cure or permanent relief of pain, it is certain, first, that nerve- stretching has established itself as an operation capable of both a curative and a palliative action in a large majority of cases of neuralgia; and it must be admitted that a return of the disease after an interval of a certain duration, say of one year, ought some- times to be regarded as an entirely fresh attack. It is equally certain that this operation has afforded relief in a large proportion of spasmodic diseases, such as facial tic especially, though here the proportion of undoubted relapse of the malady is greater than in the neuralgias. As to epilepsy, the operation is probably useless. In regard to tetanus, it would seem that with an increased number of cases fewer actual cures are recorded, after nerve-stretching, than in the older Tables, a discrepancy not easily explained but casting doubt on those records ; indeed, it is difficult in the present state of pathological science to understand a beneficial modus operandi