The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-04-28
SPLICE THE NERVES.
DELICATE OPERATION is A NEW
n FEAT IN SURGERY.
Paralysis and Other Nervous Aztec
tons Now Remedied by Sutur-
ing of the Sensitive
Tendrils.

Nerve splitting" is no longer a term
to be exclusively applied to New York
street noises or women's headaches. 1t
has a fixed place in the new surgery,
states the Times of that city. Progress
siye surgeons think no more OF splitting
a nerve than some writer's do of split
ting an infinitive. Nerve splitting is
one of the accessories to nerve suturing
and nerve grating. 1t has been prac-
ticed with varying success for eight
years in Germany and England, but il
new in this country. Five successful
cases of it have been reported within a
month-three in New York, one in Bal.i-
more and one in Philadelphia. They
will. in course of time, be amply report
ed in medical journals. But New York
SURGEON who has just finished one OF the
most successful. cases OF nerve graft
ing on record declined to give details
for the daily press.
Il have certain aspira tons with re-
gard to hospital appointments" he said,
that would be ruined absolutely if
gave you the information you ask.
The profession is against physicians
who permit themselves to get talked
about in the newspapers. | do not say
that this condition of things is right or
desirable But it exists"
This surgeon said that there were
hundreds of persons in New York SUI
fering from nerve paralysis in one form
or another that could be relieved. or
even cured by nerve grating, if they
only knew that such a thing existed.
He compared grating live nerve to
dead one to re-establishing connection
in broken electrical wire.
1T is only necessary to free the dead
nervewfrom all hampering connective
tissue" he said, stretch it freely. and
remove the waste section in order to get
good opposing surface. Sensation can
be restored to dead nerve whenever
you connect it with live nerve. A
nerve will stretch considerably if it is
thoroughly cleared from the surround
ing tissue.
THE time required for the operation
and the period necessary for recovery
from it depend upon the location OF the
nerve and the age Of the patient. We
get much better results with the young
than with the old. There is no danger
at all from tetanus. So far as l know,
no case of death has been reported from
nerve grating
1T is possible to patch up the large
nerve trunks, as we'll as the smaller
nerves. The method of treatment de-
ponds upon whether the scatic, ulnar,
median or peripheral nerves are af-
fected. More or less pain and stiffness
follow the grating Of dead nerve to
live one, but the, functions of the dead
nerve gradually return to a remarkable
degree.
THE sensation is not unlike the re-
action in leg or arm that has gone to
sleep. Sometimes the patient expert
ences a feeling of confusion in regard
to sensation-fOr instance, if filament
Of nerve that primarily brought INTEL
ligence to the BRAN from the big toe
should become united with nerve fila
ment presiding over the leg area, it
takes time to reeducate that nerve. IL
there is any great loss of substance in
cutting away dead nerve new tissue is
best secured from freshly amputated
human limb, or from a.healthy animal.
The American public will. know much
more about nerve grating five years
hence than it does now" ..."