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Biomedical subjects

W Umbach

Publications and source records attributed to W Umbach.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1977

Combined stereotaxic surgery for relief of intractable pain.

We have carried out 43 of our standard combined stereotaxic thalamotomies in 37 patients with intractable pain. Our standard targets in thalamotomy for pain relief consisted of pulvinar, dorsomedial, centromedial, parafascicular and limitans nuclei. 91% of all the cases had excellent or good results. Six patients had bilateral thalamotomy because of severe relapse. Five patients developed mental disorientation and confusion after operation, but in a week returned to a normal state. One of the 37 patients died. Autopsy revealed cardiac infarction. On the basis of our results we consider the use of our standard targets to be most suitable for relieving intractable pain.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

VEP and SEP in non-specific thalamic nuclei and pulvinar during stereotaxic surgery.

This report is based on recordings of evoked photic (VEP) and somatosensory response (SEP) from the thalamic nuclei and cortex of 17 humans during stereotaxic surgery. The cortical SEP and VEP have relatively uniform patterns. The initial latency of the cortical VEP is shorter than that of SEP. Both thalamic SEP and VEP give relatively constant response to Limitans and Parafascicularis, Centromedian and Pulvinar but Dorsomedial nucleus has a smaller and variable latency. Thalamic SEP gives a better response than thalamic VEP in Nucleus Limitans and Parafascicularis, Nucleus Centromedian, and Pulvinar. This suggests that the non-specific thalamic nuclei, especially Centromedian, Limitans and the nucleus Parafascicularis and Pulvinar, play an important role in pain conduction and function as a relay station in the transmission of non-specific visual impulses. The visual evoked response pattern as well as somato-sensory evoked response from the thalamic nuclei can serve as a very reliable means of controlling the target area prior to subcortical destruction.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Simple determination of the foramen in trigeminus coagulation.

The object is to achieve a high degree of precision in the determination of the foramen ovale in managing trigeminus neuralgia stereotactically as well as by free-hand penetrations. We carried out exact measurements on lateral skull x-rays of 55 corpses and 25 patients. With the aid of a design and several plain x-ray films we drew connecting-lines between fixed, easily determined points of the skull. The middle of the foramen ovale coincides with the dissecting point of these 3 co-ordinates, the maximal deviation of 2 mm is clinically negligible compared with the total width of the foramen. The average distance of the foramen from the midline as measured on the basic projection is 2.8 cm +/- 2 mm. The puncture technique and the thermocontrolled coagulation of the trigeminus branches are discussed.

Foramen Magnum↗