Diagnosis and treatment of surgical diseases of the spinal cord and its membranes / by Charles A. Elsberg.

  • Elsberg, Charles A. (Charles Albert), 1871-1948.
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diagnosis and treatment of surgical diseases of the spinal cord and its membranes / by Charles A. Elsberg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/348 (page 17)
    SURGICAL DISEASES OF THE SPINAL CORD AND ITS MEMBRANES PART | THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SPINAL CORD THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF SURGICAL SPINAL DISEASE CHAPTER I THE SURGICAL ANATOMY OF THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN AND SPINAL CORD THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN The treatment of diseases of the spinal cord will often require the ex- posure of the cord by removal of the spinous processes and lamine of one or of a number of vertebrae. A thorough knowledge of the structure of the bones which make up the vertebral column and of the ligaments and muscles which bind them together is therefore necessary. For a detailed account of these structures the reader is referred to text-books of anatomy. In the following, reference will be made to a few facts of practical importance. In the cervical and upper dorsal regions the vertebre are smaller than in the other parts of the spinal column. ‘The spinous processes of the cervical vertebre are bifid at their tips, but the vertebre do not fit closely upon one another and are rather freely movable the one upon the other. This makes the removal of spinous processes and lamine the most easy in the cervical region (Fig. 1). In the dorsal vertebre the lamine and spines overlap and the vertebre are more fixed upon each other. The spinous processes point markedly downward, so that the distance between the tips of the spinous processes and corresponding segments of the cord is greater than in the cervical region (Fig. 2). In the lower dorsal and lumbar vertebra, the spinous processes and laminz are thick and