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Healing of the severed spinal cord by biomechanical relaxation and surgical immobilization

Régénération de la moelle épinière après hémisection par relâchement biomécanique et immobilisation chirurgicale

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Summary

A report is given of successful healing of artificially produced intramedullary wound surfaces and outgrowth of nerve fibres in the experimental dog by simple application of the basic physiological principles valid in wound repair in general, namely to bring such surfaces into long-lasting, close and tensionless contact. This contact was established by utilization of the biomechanical phenomenon that on extension of the spine the spinal cord slackens and its tissue is telescoped. Such contact suppressed practically all adverse reactions of the medullary tissue, namely, formation of an intramedullary pial-glial scar, intramedullary cysts and autotomy of the spinal cord. As a result a biological reconstruction of the injured spinal cord could be realized and the validity of the principles of functional neurosurgery put forward a couple of years ago by our biomechanical school [4] could be corroborated.

Résumé

Un rapport est présenté concernant le traitement et la guérison de surfaces intramédullaires endommagées de façon artificielle, ainsi que la croissance de fibres nerveuses dans le cas de chiens d'expérimentation, et ce sur la base des théories physiologiques de base mises en pratique pour le traitement des blessures en général, et qui consiste á faire entrer en contact étroit et prolongé ces surfaces. Cette mise en contact a pu être réalisée grâce au phénomène biomécanique qui veut que la colonne vertébrale mise en extension fasse raccourcir la moelle épinière en télescopant son tissu. La mise en contact décrite ci-dessus a permis de supprimer quasiment toutes les réactions néfastes du tissu médullaire, c'est-à-dire la formation d'une cicatrice intramédullaire pio-gliale, de kystes intramédullaires, et de l'autodestruction de la moelle épinière. Grâce à ces résultats, une reconstruction biologique de la moelle épinière endommagée a pu être observée et le bien-fondé des théories de neurochirurgie fonctionnelle, mises en avant par notre Ecole biomécanique il y a quelques années [4], a pu être confirmé.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karolinska Institute, S-10401, Stockholm, Sweden

    Alf Breig

  2. Laboratoire d'Anatomie, Faculté de Médecine, avenue de la Forêt de Haye, F-54500, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France

    Michel Renard & Catherine Renard

  3. Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Stanislaw Stefanko

Authors
  1. Alf Breig
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  2. Michel Renard
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  3. Stanislaw Stefanko
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  4. Catherine Renard
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Breig, A., Renard, M., Stefanko, S. et al. Healing of the severed spinal cord by biomechanical relaxation and surgical immobilization. Anat. Clin 4, 167–181 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01798886

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