An anatomical and clinical investigation of spinal meningeal nerves.

Anatomical studies on nerve roots obtained from autopsied subjects indicated that meningeal innervations of the dura surrounding spinal nerves are more numerous in the lumbar and cervical regions. They are most abundant near the surface of the dura, and on the ventral, lateral and ventro-lateral aspects of the spinal nerve root dura. A denervation procedure was conceived and carried out on 28 patients, 8 of which were failed discs. The results indicated that these nerves subserve the function of pain and their denervation may ameliorate such pain.