ABSTRACT
Cordotomy is a procedure based on sectioning of the lateral spinothalamic tract (LST). Edinger first identified the LST in 1889, and in 1905, Spiller reported that pain and temperature sensations ascend in the anterolateral spinal cord based on autopsy findings of tuberculoma patients at the thoracic level of the spinal cord [1,2]. In 1910 Schu¨ller sectioned the anterolateral tract in monkeys and named the procedure ‘‘chordotomie’’ [3]. The first cordotomy in man was carried out by Martin at Spiller’s instigation, with many technical difficulties [4]. Cordotomy operations were classically performed using the open technique through the cervical and upper thoracic region by a posterior approach.
