Wallace Has Unusual Surgery to Try to Relieve Disabling Pain

Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, seeking relief from the burning pain that accompanies the paralysis of his lower body, underwent nearly five hours of highly unusual surgery here Wednesday and told doctors from his recovery bed that he felt no pain.

“It is too soon to determine the success of the operation, but based on the governor’s (statement), we are hopeful,” Craig Hospital’s medical director, Dr. Daniel P. Lammertse, told reporters after the 4-hour, 50-minute operation. Wallace had been asked if he experienced pain in his legs and responded that he did not.

Wallace’s wife and son, who visited the governor after the operation, were described as pleased with his response.

Spinal Cord Damage

But Lammertse said it will be next week before it will be clear how successful the operation was at ridding Wallace, 65, of his sometimes incapacitating pain. The pain is related to spinal cord damage sustained when Wallace was shot in an assassination attempt while campaigning for the presidency in Laurel, Md., on May 15, 1972.

The neurosurgeon who performed the operation, Dr. Robert E. Edgar, said the operation has an 80% success rate for patients like Wallace.

Doctors also discovered a small cyst in Wallace’s spinal cord but said they did not believe it was related to the pain. They also removed two tiny bone chips.

Wallace arrived Sunday in this Denver suburb for treatment at Craig, a Rocky Mountain regional center specializing in helping victims of head and spinal cord injuries. The four-term governor is expected to be here another two to three weeks.

The surgery Wallace underwent is called a dorsal root entry zone microcoagulation. It is performed more often here at Craig, the hospital said, than anywhere else in the country. In the procedure, performed under a microscope, a stainless steel electrode is inserted two millimeters deep into the spinal cord, where nerve roots emerge, and a radio-frequency current is turned on for 15 seconds.

Creates a Lesion

The current creates a lesion that destroys the injured nerve tissue that has been sending pain impulses to the brain. But it also slightly raises the level of paralysis.

Although Wallace and his aides say the Democratic governor’s pain does not interfere with his official duties, he often works at his residence and is in virtually constant pain. “We don’t perform this procedure unless the pain is disabling,” Lammertse said.

Wallace has sought respite with pain-killing drugs, including the synthetic heroin substitute, methadone, and he will apparently continue to receive the drugs.

“We would not wish to stop the drug treatment abruptly,” Lammertse said. “And we will not comment on the course of future drug treatment.”