RT Journal
A1 PEREIRA A
T1 A basis for sympathectomy for cancer of the cervix uteri
JF Archives of Surgery
JO Archives of Surgery
YR 1946
FD March 1
VO 52
IS 3
SP 260
OP 285
DO 10.1001/archsurg.1946.01230050265003
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.1946.01230050265003
AB IN RECENT years several attempts have been made to relieve pain in certain cancerous diseases through action on the sympathetic nervous system. By blocking the sympathetic pathways with an anesthetic solution or by surgical interruption, the fibers conducting painful sensations arising in the area involved in the neoplasia are interrupted and the painful stimulations originated in the tumoral area cannot reach the cerebrospinal centers. In this way can be relieved the visceral pain of tumors located in such organs as the uterus, stomach, pancreas and breast. One must remember, however, that the sympathetic approach relieves pain onlyin the region whose sympathetic innervation has been interrupted; if the tumor grows and invades the adjacent organs beyond the area anesthetized by section of the sympathetic innervation, the painful sensations will reappear. This is true also if the tumor keeps within the anesthetized visceral area but a metastasis develops in a distant region,