[Surgery of the pain-conducting tract of the spinal cord in the combined treatment of pain syndromes of the trunk and limbs].

The authors had 41 patients with chronic pain syndromes which had formed after injuries or diseases of the nervous system. Previously conducted nonoperative treatment and operations on the focus of affection and the peripheral sensory neuron failed to produce the desirable pain-relieving effect. Sixty-five surgical interventions were carried out on the pain-conducting tracts of the spinal cord by an open or closed approach (uni- and bilateral chordotomy, commissurotomy, posterior longitudinal myelotomy, coagulation of the posterior root entry zones, percutaneous chordotomy, percutaneous rhizotomy). Microsurgical techniques, stereotaxic manipulations, refined instruments were used. With strict consideration for the indications for the operation and their differentiated fulfillment favourable results were produced in most cases, in 83% in the immediate postoperative period and in 75% of cases in the long-term period.