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Facet Denervation

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Textbook of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery

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Abstract

Chronic pain in the midline of the low back, posterior neck, or less often, the dorsal spine, is a common disability that is difficult to treat. The belief that facet joint disease might be responsible for such pain goes back many years [1–4]. Currently, pain of facet origin is thought to be steady, felt over a variable number of vertebrae, extending laterally as far as the proximal limb, but not associated with radicular pain or neurological deficit [5–13]. Occasionally it is not midline or bilateral, but rather strictly unilateral. It is often said to be aggravated by spinal extension. Attempts to ameliorate it surgically appear to have begun in the 1970s, first with Rees’ [14] attempts to cut the facet nerves with a hooked knife and then with Shealy’s [15,16] work with a radio frequency (RF) lesioning electrode. The latter procedure attracted much interest [17–37].

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Authors
  1. R. R. Tasker
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  2. Wen Ching Tzaan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Research Chair in Neuroscience (Tier 1), 399 Bathurst St. WW 4-447, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2S8, Canada

    Andres M. Lozano (Professor of Surgery and RR Tasker Chair in Functional Neurosurgery University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Toronto Western Research Institute President, World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery) (Professor of Surgery and RR Tasker Chair in Functional Neurosurgery University of Toronto Senior Scientist, Toronto Western Research Institute President, World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery)

  2. Houston Stereotactic Concepts, Inc., 2260 West Holcombe Boulevard Suite 309, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Philip L. Gildenberg

  3. University of Toronto, 399 Bathurst St. WW 4-447, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2S8, Canada

    Ronald R. Tasker

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Tasker, R.R., Tzaan, W.C. (2009). Facet Denervation. In: Lozano, A.M., Gildenberg, P.L., Tasker, R.R. (eds) Textbook of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69960-6_135

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69960-6_135

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69959-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69960-6

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