RESULTS OF SPINAL PYRAMIDOTOMY IN THE TREATMENT OF THE PARKINSONIAN SYNDROME

Abstract

THE NEED for a method affording relief through surgical measures to patients suffering from severe parkinsonism can scarcely be questioned by anyone who has had to do with this unhappy group. The use of drugs of the belladonna series should, of course, always be tried, and if it is satisfactory surgical intervention need scarcely be considered; but failures are numerous, and, all in all, the medical profession has little reason to be complacent over the results so far obtained. It has been clearly shown by several surgeons that relief of tremor is possible following various procedures which destroy the pyramidal tract to a greater or less degree (Bucy,¹Putnam,²Klemme,³Myers⁴), but it remains to be seen which of the operative methods yields the most satisfactory results in the long run. Aside from such practical considerations, many questions of great theoretic importance are also involved, for