A surgical operation to cut the nerve pathway taking sensations of pain to the brain, as a treatment for severe pain that is hard to control.
A neurosurgical operation for the relief of intractable pain. The nerve fibers that carry painful sensations to consciousness travel from the spinal cord through the brainstem in the spinothalamic tracts. This procedure is designed to sever the tracts within the medulla oblongata.
A neurological operation to relieve intractable pain. The thalamic tracts of the spinal cord contain the nerve-fibres that signal pain. They travel from the source of the pain in an organ or tissue such as skin or bone via the cord to the brain stem and cortex where the individual becomes ‘conscious’ of the pain. The operation aims to sever these tracts within the medulla oblongata of the brain.
Surgical section of a tract of the central nervous system. It is sometimes used to relieve intractable pain.
The surgical severance of a nerve pathway.