Results of antero-lateral cordotomy for pain in cancer

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Abstract
The following results of the 114 operations are presented. Pain was totally relieved in about a half of the cases; good but incomplete relief was obtained in a further quarter. The operation performed on the cervical cord cranial to the phrenic nuclei caused a temporary paralysis of the movements of respiration. The operation in some patients caused disturbance of the motility of the lower, and if done in the cervical cord, of the upper limbs. The complications were no less severe if the bilateral operation was done in two stages with several weeks'' interval between the stages. There were also complications affecting micturition and defaecation, sweating and vasomotor tone, and sensory complications, including reference of the pain into a normally sentient part of the body, and unpleasant dyaesthesiae.

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