Report of a committee of the associate medical members of the Sanitary Commission on the subject of amputations.

  • Slade, D. D. (Daniel Denison), 1823-1896.
Date:
[1861]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of a committee of the associate medical members of the Sanitary Commission on the subject of amputations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    regards similar injuries in the upper two-thirds of the thigh, the mortality following amputations has been so very greal that army Burgeons have generally abandoned the operation. Dr. McLeod, after a careful inquiry into this point, says: Under circumstances of war, similar to those which occur- red in the East, \\«% ought to tr\ to save compound commin- uated fractures of the thigh, when situated in the upper third : but immediate amputation should he had recourse to in the ease of a like accident occurring in the middle and lower third. Such cases must be left to the judgment of the surgeon. 10. Gun-shot wounds of the knee-joint demand amputa- tion. The operation of excision, in the very few eases in which it has been practised by army surgeons, has not been attended by favorable results. This want of success is not, however, to condemn, except upon the field of battle, an operation which has been so successfully performed in eases of disease. 11. Gun-shot fractures in the middle of the leg do not necessitate amputation, unless the arteries are destroyed, or the injuries involve the neighboring joints. 12. Gun-shot injuries of the ankle do not necessarily require amputation. If the posterior tibial artery and nerve have escaped injury, and if the bones be not too extensively comminuted, attempts may be made to save the Limb. 13. Great care should be exercised, before proceeding to amputation, to ascertain whether a patient may not be otherwise mortally wounded. THE TIME FOR OPERATING. In army practice, on the field, amputation, when neces- sary, ought to be primary. Patients, in □ . cannot bear removal from the field without increased danger, neither can they have afterwards the hygienic attentions which secondary amputations must necessarily require. Therefore— 1. Amputate with as little delay as possible, after the