Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Kasprzak.
The authors present a method of surgical treatment of progressive paresis of the ulnar nerve by means of transposition of this nerve to the anterior aspect of the cubital fossa. This method was used in 35 cases. The most frequent cause of the paresis was old fracture or contusion of the region of the cubital joint. In all cases the therapeutic result was good.
The authors discuss the tactics in the surgical approach in radical operations on the spinal cord, cauda and spine. The discussion is based on 1972 operations on the spine and spinal cord. The group of radical operations comprises 192 cases. The operative mortality in this material was 1%. The authors believe that the surgical tactics in these diseases should be considerate but also as radical as possible.
The author reports the results of morphological investigations in 48 experimental shot wounds of the peripheral nerves of rabbits. In 8 animals the missile hit directly the ischiadic nerve disrupting its continuity (neurotmesis). The microscopic picture of not discupted nerves differed from one animal to another. Three types of microscopic findings were distinguished: 1) normal microscopic appearance, 2) Wallerian degeneration, 3) axonal regeneration. Normal appearance of nervous fibres was observed in all three groups of animals studied at different time intervals after injury (8-10, 18 and 56 days after injury). In the first and second groups Wallerian degeneration prevailed, while axonal regeneration was a typical finding in groups II and III. Microscopic changes in the nerves were very similar to those observed in peripheral nerves subjected to traction injury. It may be assumed that the cause of shot injury was sudden stretching of the nerve trunk in the pulsating shot channel.
The authors report two cases of Horton's neuralgia treated surgically. In one patient the result is very good, in the other one it is poor. The pathophysiological mechanisms and anatomical-functional basis of this type of headache are discussed stressing the contribution to the knowledge of these mechanisms made by Professor Jerzy Choróbski. It seems that more patients should be referred for this treatment that it is done presently. The operation with sectioning of this nerve is not particularly troublesome and it may be a good supplementation of pharmacological treatment.
The results are presented of treatment of 16 patients with radial nerve injuries. In only 3 cases the injury was an isolated lesion while in 13 cases it was secondary to humeral fractures or surgical interventions. In 7 cases autotransplantation was done, and in the remaining cases the interventions were limited to external and internal neurolysis because of the nerve trunk showed continuity without losing normal thickness. The therapeutic results were regarded as good.
The authors present 6 cases of uni- or bilateral subdural hygromas that appeared a few weeks following severe head injury. Such hygromas were named by the authors as "delayed" ones. Surgical evacuation of hygroma resulted in patient's status improvement in all 6 cases, based on well-known theories of posttraumatic hygromas origin, the authors try to explain patomechanism of the "delayed" hygromas.