[Results of selective posterior radiculetomy at the lumbar and cervical level]

At the light of authors' present experience, radicletomy appears as an excellent antalgic operative procedure in the case of roots with high functional risk (brachial plexus and lumbar plexus). In the absence of any motor deficiency or ataxia, it appears that radicletomy is of help in the cure of severe hypertonies of the extremities (sequelae of cerebral stem contusions). Conversely, in the spastic sequelae of hemi- or paraparesias, lumbar-sacral posterior selective radicotomy is a sure procedure that procures results nearly super-imposable to radicletomy with an appreciable gain in time. At last, for what concerns the motor involvements of the upper extremity ending in spasticity, selective radicletomy recovers its rights and has to be preferred to S.P.R. The indications may be summarized as follows: -- At the level of the lower extremities: in the case of paraparetic sequelae or of sequelae due to spastic paraplegia, a S.P.R. has to be performed; for what concerns antalgic surgery, in the absence of motor deficiency, the best indication is radicletomy. -- At the level of the upper extremities: in the case of dystonic sequeale of the cerebral stem, spastic pain bound with hemiplegia or with carcinoma etc. (herpes zoster..), radicletomy constitutes the ideal surgical procedure.