NEUROTOMY, NEURECTOMY, UNNERVING 



165 



Fig. 508. Median Neurectomy 



1, Median nerve. 2, Brachial artery. 3, Brachial vein. 

 4, Ante-brachial fascia. 



Neurectomy has also been 

 resorted to in the case of 

 spavin, when all other treat- 

 ment has failed, but not with 

 satisfactory results. 



Horses which have been 

 unnerved, although free from 

 lameness, usually give some 

 indication of the fact. When 

 the hand is passed over the 

 site of operation the foot is 

 sharply raised as though the 

 animal had been asked to hold 

 it up, or the horse flinches on 

 the application of slight pres- 

 sure over the nerve end, which 

 always remains sore for some 

 time after division. In many 

 cases a nodule of more or 

 less hard material forms on 

 the end of the upper division of the nerve, which can be felt on either 

 side of the leg where the incision was made. When these exist they 

 form serious ground of suspicion as to 

 neurectomy having been performed, 

 and all that is needed to settle the 

 point is a few pin-pricks over the pas- 

 tern. If the nerves have been divided 

 there will be no snatching up of the 

 foot, as occurs when sensibility of the 

 skin is intact. 



Sequelae. Some of the conse- 

 quences of neurectomy have been inci- 

 dentally alluded to: gelatinoid de- 

 generation of tendons, sloughing of 

 the hoof by undiscovered suppuration 

 arising- from pricks, wounds, corns, &c. 

 When the operation has been resorted 

 to for navicular trouble, the diseased 

 bone will sometimes fracture or the 

 flexor tendon passing under it becomes excoriated, its fibres soften, and 

 rupture under the weight imposed upon them; the toe turns up, and the 



Fig. 509. Neurectomy of the Ulnar Nerve 



