For Patients:

DREZ stands for Dorsal Root Entry Zone. It is basically the area in the spinal cord where a nerve carrying messages from a certain part of the body enters the spinal cord. Those messages are then sent to the brain for processing. DREZ, therefore, is a relay station where messages from parts of the body first register.

Nerves all over the body send different messages to the brain. Nerves carry messages of pain, temperature, touch, and pressure among other messages. Some of those messages are pleasant and some are not. As mentioned above, those messages first register in the DREZ area of the spinal cord. We can in many situations interrupt the unwanted unpleasant sensations where they register in the spinal cord before reaching the brain. This can be achieved with medications or surgery involving the DREZ area.

For Physicians and Surgeons:

DREZ stands for Dorsal Root Entry Zone. It is basically the area in the spinal cord where a sensory nerve carrying sensory modalities from a certain part of the body enters the spinal cord. Those modalities are then transmitted to the brain for processing. Sensations, therefore, reach the spinal cord via the sensory dorsal roots. DREZ, therefore, is a relay station where the sensory dorsal roots enter the spinal cord. Sensory nerves all over the body carry first order neurons and deliver them into the DREZ area. The DREZ area contains cell bodies of the second order neurons in the sensory pathways.

Sensory nerves all over the body send different sensory modalities to the brain. Sensory nerves carry messages of pain, temperature, light touch, deep touch, pressure, and joint sensations amongst other modalities. Some of those messages are pleasant and some are not. Those messages first register in the DREZ area of the spinal cord. DREZ is where first order neurons synapse with second order neurons. We can in many chronic pain syndromes interrupt the unwanted unpleasant sensations where they register in the spinal cord before reaching the brain. Activity in the DREZ area especially as it relates to pain can be altered either pharmacologically, or via neuromodulation such as with dorsal column stimulation, or with DREZ lesioning.