Dermatoomkaart

Dermatoomkaart refers to a diagram or map that illustrates the sensory innervation of the skin by spinal nerves. Specifically, it shows the areas of skin that are supplied by sensory fibers from a single spinal nerve root. These areas are known as dermatomes. Each spinal nerve, except for the first cervical nerve, has a corresponding dermatome. The arrangement of dermatomes follows a general pattern, with dermatomes from adjacent spinal levels overlapping slightly in their coverage.

Dermatome maps are valuable tools in neurology and medicine for diagnosing and localizing neurological conditions. For instance, a patient experiencing pain, numbness, or tingling in a specific pattern of skin might indicate damage or compression of a particular spinal nerve root. Physicians use the dermatome chart to correlate the patient's symptoms with the affected nerve. They may also use it to assess the extent of nerve damage after injury or surgery.

Various dermatome charts exist, but they generally depict the distribution of sensory input from cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral nerves. Understanding dermatome maps helps in understanding the pathway of sensory information from the skin to the spinal cord and then to the brain. This knowledge is fundamental in clinical examination and the diagnosis of conditions affecting the peripheral nervous system, including radiculopathies and herpes zoster (shingles).