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ABSTRACT: Some patients present with clinical symptoms of localized tenderness and pain associated with a specific peripheral nerve, such as the ulnar nerve at the elbow or the sciatic nerve, which has been called, although rarely, "Valleix point" or "Valleix phenomenon". The purpose of this article was to translate and research the 719-page book "Traité des névralgies ou affections douloureuses des nerfs" dated 1841, dedicated solely to nerve pain (neuralgia), written by the French physician François Louis Isidore Valleix (1807-1855). He may have been the first person to observe and describe this phenomenon of localized pain, but he was probably also the first to describe distal nerve radiation, which he called "élancement" or lancinating, or stabbing. He described the phenomenon of a nerve producing pain at points along its course that we now understand to be sites of compression, clearly describing cubital and fibular tunnel syndromes, which he called neuralgias. He also described some rarer sites of compression, such as supraorbital and occipital neuralgia, notalgia paresthetica, and ACNES, but he did not describe the most common site of compression today, the median nerve at the wrist. Valleix's descriptions are clear and precede the classic 1915 reports of Hoffmann's and Tinel's signs by 74 years.

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BACKGROUND: Headache is as old as human history and has been able to report, and the first descriptions were found in Greece and Mesopotamia. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to know the date of the first description of ICHD-3 headaches, with their respective author. METHODS: We searched for articles that addressed the historical aspects of primary and secondary headaches and painful cranial neuropathies. RESULTS: Twenty-seven different headaches were analyzed according to the occurrence of their first description, with the respective author and country of origin. CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge of the first description of ICHD-3 headaches, with their respective author, showed us how and when the different headaches appeared over the years.

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BACKGROUND: The occipital neuralgia affects 3 out of every 100,000 people and includes the neuralgia of the greater occipital nerve (GON) and the neuralgia of the minor and third occipital nerves. These nerves emerge from the posterior branches of the first cervical roots, innervate the muscles of the nape, and provide the sensitivity of the scalp. The most frequent issue is not to find causes that justify neuralgia for what is usually idiopathic. The nerve that most often causes neuralgia is the GON that is usually wrongly called Arnold's nerve, so neuralgia is also called Arnold's neuralgia. METHODS: We have reviewed the first description of occipital neuralgia. RESULTS: Two Spanish doctors, José Benito Lentijo and Mateo Martínez Ramos, had already described in detail the neuralgia of the GON before Arnold was born. The first clinical case of occipital neuralgia due to GON involvement was published by them in a Spanish medical journal in 1821, and they called it cervico-suboccipital neuralgia. CONCLUSION: We claim in this article the role of these two Spanish doctors in the history of Neurology.

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We presented and discussed one interesting medical prescription by doctor Giuseppe Moscati (1880-1927), who prescribed magnesium oxide (magnesia usta) to a patient with the diagnosis of "neuralgia of the celiac plexus of rheumatic origin". Besides the traditional use of magnesium as antacid remedy at the time, we raised the hypothesis that magnesium could be administered by Moscati in order to treat the neuralgia itself. Considering the scientific background of Moscati at the school of Filippo Bottazzi (1867-1941), a father of Italian biochemistry, we suggested that the doctor tried to apply the preliminary concepts acquired from electrophysiological studies on magnesium to his clinical practice. Only after decades, magnesium was recognized a fundamental ion in the energy metabolism and in contributing to maintain the ionic intracellular homeostasis, including for neurons.

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The abdominal wall is frequently overlooked as a potential source of chronic abdominal pain. In anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES), irritated intercostal nerves cause severe abdominal pain. Current textbooks fail to acknowledge ACNES. Aim of the present review is to provide detailed information on patient history, physical examination, and a three-step treatment protocol including abdominal wall injections and a localized removal of terminal branches of intercostal nerves.

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INTRODUCTION: 'Burning Feet Syndrome' affected up to one third of Far Eastern Prisoners of War in World War 2. Recently discovered medical records, produced by RAF Medical Officer Nowell Peach whilst in captivity, are the first to detail neurological examinations of patients with this condition. METHODS: The 54 sets of case notes produced at the time were analysed using modern diagnostic criteria to determine if the syndrome can be retrospectively classed as neuropathic pain. RESULTS: With a history of severe malnutrition raising the possibility of a peripheral polyneuropathy, and a neuroanatomically plausible pain distribution, this analysis showed that Burning Feet Syndrome can now be described as a 'possible' neuropathic pain syndrome. CONCLUSION: After 70 years, the data painstakingly gathered under the worst of circumstances have proved to be of interest and value in modern diagnostics of neuropathic pain.

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The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. Although famous for her colorful self-portraits and associations with celebrities Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky, less known is the fact that she had lifelong chronic pain. Frida Kahlo developed poliomyelitis at age 6 years, was in a horrific trolley car accident in her teens, and would eventually endure numerous failed spinal surgeries and, ultimately, limb amputation. She endured several physical, emotional, and psychological traumas in her lifetime, yet through her art, she was able to transcend a life of pain and disability. Of her work, her self-portraits are conspicuous in their capacity to convey her life experience, much of which was imbued with chronic pain. Signs and symptoms of chronic neuropathic pain and central sensitization of nociceptive pathways are evident when analyzing her paintings and medical history. This article uses a narrative approach to describe how events in the life of this artist contributed to her chronic pain. The purpose of this article is to discuss Frida Kahlo's medical history and her art from a modern pain sciences perspective, and perhaps to increase our understanding of the pain experience from the patient's perspective.

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Neuropathic pain is supposed to be a post-renaissance described medical entity. Although it is often believed that John Fothergill (1712-1780) provided the first description of this condition in 1773, a review of the medieval Persian medical writings will show the fact that neuropathic pain was a medieval-originated concept. "Auojae Asab" [Nerve-originated Pain] was used as a medical term in medieval Persian medical literature for pain syndromes which etiologically originated from nerves. Physicians like Rhazes (d. 925 CE), Haly Abbas (d. 982 CE), Avicenna (d. 1037 CE), and Jorjani (d. 1137 CE) have discussed multiple aspects of nerve-originated pain including its classification, etiology, differentiating characteristics, different qualities, and pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. Recognizing medieval scholars' views on nerve-originated pain can lighten old historical origins of this concept.

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Medical treatment must strike a balance between benefit and risk. As the field of neuromodulation develops, decreased invasiveness, in combination with maintenance of efficacy, has become a goal. We provide a review of the history of cortical stimulation from its origins to the current state. The first part discusses neuropathic pain and the nonpharmacological treatment options used. The second part covers transitions to tinnitus, believed by many to be another deafferentation disorder, its classification, and treatment. The third part focuses on major depression. The fourth section concludes with the discussion of the use of cortical stimulation in movement disorders. Each part discusses the development of the field, describes the current care protocols, and suggests future avenues for research needed to advance neuromodulation.

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El presente articulo trata de esclarecer algunos aspectos relativos al desarrollo histórico de la Neurocirugía y de la Neuroanestesia en España durante la primera mitad del siglo XX. El objetivo es el de analizar aspectos puntuales de la historia de la neurocirugía y procurar hacer una aproximación a las primeras experiencias llevadas a cabo por cirujanos españoles; al mismo tiempo que se trata de de perfilar cómo nuestros cirujanos resolvieron los problemas que la anestesia les iba planteando en la nueva cirugía. Basamos nuestra investigación en datos dispersos que hemos hallado en la bibliografía médica española, que analizados nos permiten asegurar que en España se iniciaron las técnicas Neuroquirúrgicas simultáneamente con lo ocurrido en otros países de nuestro entorno sociocultural; sin embargo, estos primeros ensayos no tuvieron continuidad, ya que tan sólo unos pocos cirujanos siguieron practicando muy tímidamente esta cirugía. Antes de los comienzos de la guerra civil española, algunos cirujanos decidieron especializarse en esta nueva rama de la cirugía, y para ello visitaron algunas clínicas especializadas en el extranjero. La guerra civil de 1936-1939 supuso un hándicap importante para poder asistir a clínicas extranjeras por razones obvias, pero en la postguerra inmediata fueron ya más los que iniciaron en España la nueva especialidad y se crearon varios servicios neuroquirúrgicos en Barcelona y Madrid. La Neurocirugía siguió entre nosotros una evolución paralela a lo acontecido en otros países y la neuroanestesia supo responder puntualmente a los muchos retos que aquella le fue presentando a lo largo de la primera mitad del siglo XX, pudiéndose diferenciar claramente cómo los primeros ensayos fueron realizados con anestesia inhalatoria; después, a partir de principios del siglo XX, fue la local y ya en la década de los años cuarenta se inician las modernas técnicas con intubación traqueal y relajación muscular (AU)

In this paper we will clarify several points about the historical development of neurosurgery and neuroanaesthesia in Spain in the first half of XX th century. Our aim is an analysis of specific events of the history of neurosurgery with an approach to the first experiences of Spanish surgeons in this field. Also we will study how the surgeons faced the anaesthesia problems caused by this new surgery. We have based our investigation in the sparse data we found in Spanish medical literature, and we can verify that the beginning of neurosurgery in Spain was in the same period than in other nearby countries. However, apart from isolated experiences, there was not continuity in the neurosurgical practice, and only a small number of surgeons kept on with this activity. Before the onset of the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), a few surgeons decided to specialize in neurosurgery and visited several foreign hospitals. Obviously, the war complicated these stays, but after the war a greater number of surgeons involved in neurosurgery, and several departments of neurosurgery established in Barcelona and Madrid. Neurosurgery followed an evolution similar to that of other western countries, and also neuroanaesthesia evolved accordingly to cope with the new problems of this type of surgery in the first half of XX th century. Inhalatory anaesthesia was the choice in the first trials of neuroanaesthesia, followed by local anaesthesia at the beginning of XX th century. The modern techniques of anaesthesia, including endotracheal intubation and muscle relaxation began in the forties in Spain (AU)

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OBJECTIVE: Describe the influence of S. Weir Mitchell's (1829-1914) work, and in particular his ideas on causalgia, on European physicians who treated peripheral nerve injuries during World War I (WWI). BACKGROUND: During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Mitchell studied peripheral nerve injuries with colleagues George Read Morehouse and William Williams Keen. Three monographs resulted from this work. All were important landmarks in the evolution of knowledge of peripheral nerve injuries. A subsequent occasion to improve knowledge came in WWI. METHODS: The most important European monographs or series on peripheral nerve injuries from WWI were studied with special interest in references to causalgia and Mitchell's works on peripheral nerve injuries. We included works by Tinel, Athanassio-Benisty, Purves-Stewart & Evans and Carter, Foerster and Oppenheim. RESULTS: Tinel and Athanassio-Benisty provided the most detailed information on peripheral nerve injuries and causalgia and often referred to Mitchell. Both mentioned a possible sympathetic origin. Athanassio-Benisty described tremor and other movement disorders in relation to causalgia. Purves-Stewart and Evans mentioned Mitchell and causalgia in the second edition of their book. They advocated the term "thermalgia." Carter, who had access to data of many cases, concentrated his work on causalgia, referring to Mitchell. Foerster provided data of a great number of peripheral nerve injuries, but did not refer to Mitchell. However, he described the symptoms of causalgia cursorily, applying the term Reflexschmerz (reflexpain). Oppenheim was particularly interested in muscle innervation and referred to Mitchell with respect to hypertrichosis and glossy skin. Oppenheim did not use the term causalgia, although he described the syndrome in some of his patients. It wasn't until around 1920 that German physicians devoted significant attention to causalgia and began using the term. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of peripheral nerve injuries was greatly advanced during and after WWI. Mitchell's influence was mainly found in the French medical literature, where his findings provided the basis for further research on the origin of causalgia. In England, Mitchell and causalgia were also well-known. We found evidence to suggest that some of the English knowledge came from French physicians. German physicians described the symptoms of causalgia, but did not use the term, nor did they refer to Mitchell. This variation in Mitchell's influence by country probably reflects the fact that Mitchell's Injuries of nerves and their consequences was translated into French but not German.

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