Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The anterior spinothalamic tract carries sensory information regarding light, poorly localized touch. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The lateral spinothalamic tract carries information about pain and temperature. The literature concerning this neurosurgical field has been extensively reviewed, 1 and only pertinent references will be included here. Anne Lingford-Hughes, Nicola Kalk, in Core Psychiatry (Third Edition), 2012. Its relatively superficial position renders it accessible to anterolateral chordotomy, to an incision dorsolateral to the inferior olivary nucleus or to an incision at the lateral sulcus of the mesencephalon.
Because dorsal root section severs all afferent paths to the spinal cord, the most successful central interruption is obtained by cutting the lateral spinothalamic tract somewhere along its course. For many patients suffering from persistent intractable pain of organic origin, interruption of the central pain pathways offers a palliative measure. As the name indicates, spinothalamic tracts originate in the spinal cord and terminate in the thalamus, which is a part of the forebrain. An ascending tract is a bundle of nerve fibers that carries signals from the peripheral body parts to the higher centers of the brain. Certain aspects of the problem are of considerable interest to the neurosurgeon. Spinothalamic tracts are the ascending tracts present in the spinal cord. These two divisions of the spinothalamic tract run next to each other indistinctly. The anterior spinothalamic tract carries sensory input about crude touch. simple and easy notes for quick revision of important questions for exam. The whole problem of peripheral pain reception and central pain perception and representation remains one of the fundamental fields of investigation in neurophysiology and clinical neurology. The spinothalamic tract is composed of two adjacent pathways: anterior and lateral. JNeuroanatomy Ascending and descending tracts of spinal cord- fasiculus grailis and fasciculus cuneatus, corticospinal or pyramidal tracts.