http://www.burtonreport.com/InfSpine/AdhesArachToxicDump.htm
A sad truth of life is that we are often unappreciative of important things until they are lost. Our most precious asset is our intact nervous system. To experience its impairment, hopefully only transiently, provides all of us with a healthy respect for the importance of its integrity. Our brains, spinal cords, and spinal nerves are protected externally by the armor of the skull and spinal column and internally by the meninges. The thick dura mater also serves to protect the inner structures. The thin and delicate pia mater and arachnoid membranes exist to nourish and support neural tissue. Cerebrospinal fluid is created in the spinal subarachnoid space and flows over the surface of the brain where it is reabsorbed into our circulatory systems. The subarachnoid space is a very delicate and fragile structure. A more pristine ecological environment does not exist in our body. This fragility allows only a slight tolerance for insult. The subarachnoid space is the true "salum sactorum" of the human body.
Despite this observation the subarachnoid space has been a medical roadway occasionally traveled for the purpose of spinal anesthesia, myelography, intra-thecal catheters for drug infusion, etc. The sensitivity of the subarachnoid space to foreign body substances was well demonstrated by an epidemic of permanent paralysis relating to spinal anesthesia in the United States in the 1950s. This was before the advent of disposable syringes and needles. It was subsequently determined that the etiology of these disastrous complications was the presence of minute particles of simple detergent remaining in the syringes after cleaning. Even today the medical insurance rates relating to performance of spinal anesthesia remain high because of this experience. What have we learned from this experience? Actually not much.
The sanctity of the subarachnoid space has been severely tested in the 20th century....
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