Electrical Stimulation of Peripheral Nerves Exposed at Operation

The occurrence during the war of large numbers of nerve lesions of traumatic origin has stimulated the investigation of nerve function by various methods, among which that of electrical stimulation is of recognized importance. Operations for the correction of these lesions have furnished the opportunity for the direct stimulation of exposed nerve trunks, pathologic and normal, by which means extremely important information may be gained. This paper is based on such observations in a series of seventy-three cases in which operation was performed in the service of Lieut.-Col. C. H. Frazier at U. S. Army General Hospital No. 11, Cape May, N. J., and U. S. Army General Hospital No. 41, Fox Hills, N. Y., and aims at presenting general conclusions and such other data as may be of interest to the surgeon. The case reports, with more detailed anatomic and theoretical consideration, will be embodied in another paper. TECHNIC