The origin of spinal cord stereotaxy can be traced back to the 19th-century work of
Woroshiloff, the pioneer of brain stereotaxy. The development of clinical brain stereotaxy
began in the mid-20th century, but spinal cord stereotaxy lagged behind. The first
stereotactic spinal cord surgery was successfully performed by Hitchcock for pain
treatment in the 1960s, and surgery for urinary bladder hyperspasticity performed
by Nádvorník followed several years later. Other stereotactic surgeries of the spinal
cord movement system could not be considered until Slovak anatomist Čierny used animal
experiments (with cats) to discover the exact location of motoneurons for the individual
muscles in the anterior horns of the spinal cord. Having compared the data with the
pattern of Riley's atlas based on microscopic investigation of the human spinal cord
(only motoneuron groups without functional properties), the first stereotactic spinal
cord atlas was transferred to human structures. With the construction of a universal
spinal cord stereotactic device began a new era in spinal cord stereotaxy. The investigation
of spinal cord movement functions will probably become the main focus of this discipline
that aims to restore physiologic movement after spinal cord injury associated with
paraplegia.
Keywords
discovery of spinal cord stereotaxy - clinical development of spinal cord - spinal
cord stereotactic map - universal spinal cord stereotactic device - future of spinal
cord stereotaxy
