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Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences (1893)
Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences - 1893 Author:Unknown Author Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DISEASES OF THE SPINAL CORD. By H. OBERSTEINER, M.D., VIENNA. The past year has not been productive of important new facts pertaining to diseases of the... more » spinal cord; but our knowledge in this class of affections has, nevertheless, been noticeably extended in various particulars. We have to note a succession of important developments with regard to the more minute anatomy of the spinal cord, from which we may be led to expect a decided revolution in the diagnosis of many of its diseases. These anatomical facts, however, are not yet sufficiently confirmed to render positive deductions possible as regards pathology. TUMORS. Repeated attempts have been made, most of them with unsuccessful results, to remove tumors of the spinal cord by operative procedures. Besides the cases reported in Section A, vol. Hi, Lichtheim, of Konigsberg, quoted two. In the first, the seat of the tumor was at the level of the ninth dorsal vertebra. The patient died of purulent meningitis two days after the operation. In the second case, the tumor was at the level of the fourth dorsal vertebra. After subsequent recovery, the inability of locomotion, which before had been complete, was so far improved as to make it possible for the patient to walk without a cane. Disturbances of sensibility in the right leg and on the right side of the thorax alone remain. Ramson and Anderson attempted the removal of a hydatid cyst in the vertebral canal. The patient, aged 48, was suffering from paraplegia, with incontinence, and anaesthesia of the legs with diminution of sensibility above the anaesthetic zone. The vertebral canal was opened between the last dorsal and the second lumbar vertebra, but nothing was found. After three days the patient died, and the post-mortem showed that the hydatid cyst Fr...« less