Clinical Neuroscience - 1964;17(12)

Clinical Neuroscience

DECEMBER 01, 1964

[The pain problem and pain relief surgery]

DR ZAPPE Lajos

[In Part 1 of this paper, the author summarizes recent anatomical-physiological and clinical data on pain perception. He concludes that our knowledge in this area is in many respects contradictory, in particular the hypothesis of a specific pain-conducting system poses a number of difficulties. In Part II, based on theoretical considerations and a review of additional data, he concludes that many of the problems stem from a flawed approach to the issue. He makes a few comments on sensory function in general ; he stresses the importance of distinguishing between afferentalio and perception-feeling. The former is a more general concept ; the latter is understood to mean the part of the afferent impulse-mass which comes within the sphere of consciousness. The varieties of sensation are thus subjective phenomena, psychic experiences ; it is not necessary, and indeed it is difficult to imagine, that there should be a strictly corresponding functional subdivision of the various varieties of sensation along the line of receptors and at all levels of the pathways leading to them. The pathways involved in the sensations of pain, touch, cold, heat, and gravity work in conjunction with each other ; the functional separation between them is not parallel to the individual sensations ; the latter are produced partly by the interaction of the impulses of the different pathways and partly by brain integration. It is not correct to directly parallel the sensation of pain with vision and hearing ; the latter are predominantly involved in the formation of conditional reflex connections, they provide quantitative and qualitative fine graded information, and are characterized by analyzer activity. The sensation of pain, on the other hand, is the subjective side of the complex defensive reactio, the way of experiencing, that is, the pain response to any kind of tissue-damaging stimulus. of several different levels of reflex activity, most of which are unconditional of different types of pain. In Part III, the author describes the better known experiments on the somaticus nervous system. and evaluates the more familiar analgesic operations on the somatosensory system, based on the I and II, or supplementing them with some new aspects.]

HUN 1964;17(12)

Clinical Neuroscience

DECEMBER 01, 1964

[Intracranial tumour (meningioma) extracranial metastasis]

DR ZÁMBÓ Zoltán

[A 59-year-old female patient was admitted to hospital with right hemiplegia, aphasia, incontinentia urinae et alvi. On the basis of clinical signs, her disease was considered arteriosclerotic encephalopathy with soft tissue nodules. On dissection, the clinical signs were found to be due to a tumour located in the left parietal lobe of the brain and compressing the brain tissue, histologically proven to be a meningothelial meningioma. This tumour metastasised to the upper lobe of the left lung with the same histological structure. The site of tumor spread to the dura sinuses could not be located. The significance of this rare detection is enhanced by the fact that, in contrast to most cases of metastatic meningioma, the case detected required prior surgical intervention, which metastasis as reported in the literature, was not performed.]

HUN 1964;17(12)

Clinical Neuroscience

DECEMBER 01, 1964

[Data on the pathogenesis of lactational psychosis]

DR ZSADÁNYI Ottó, DR ÓVÁRY Imre

[The authors describe the premorbid psyches and somatic illnesses of 31 patients with the pathology of lactational psychosis treated at the clinic, the circumstances of childbirth and the somatic illnesses that developed after childbirth. In 30 patients, some kind of toxicus-infectiosus process associated with a specific premorbid personality was detected. Symptomatology of psychosis was divided into 3 groups : amentia, hallucinatory-paranoid and anxiety depression. 24 patients were followed up. After a detailed review of the literature, it was concluded that the toxic infectious process plays a primary role in the aetiology of lactic psychosis, and that hormonal disturbances, specific personality structure and psychogenic factors also play a role in the pathogenesis of the disorder. Endogenous psychoses has not been demonstrated, although in some cases it has been precipitating factor has been suggested.]

HUN 1964;17(12)