Early history of the operation of ligature of the primitive carotid artery : with a report of forty-eight unpublished cases : and a summary of forty-four cases, with remarks, by Valentine Mott / by James R. Wood.

  • Wood, James R. (James Rushmore), 1816-1882.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Early history of the operation of ligature of the primitive carotid artery : with a report of forty-eight unpublished cases : and a summary of forty-four cases, with remarks, by Valentine Mott / by James R. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    haustion. At this juncture, Mr. Lynn was called in, and the following is his account of the operation which he performed : 41 If the haemorrhage was not arrested, she must inevitably die in a day or two. Local ligatures were perfectly inap- plicable. Cruicksliank had lately been tying the carotids of dogs, and I saw no reason why the same operation should not be performed with impunity in the human subject, and if he liked, I would undertake to tie the primitive carotid. I accordingly cut down upon this artery, just below its bifur- cation by the side of the larynx, and found no difficulty in penetrating through the skin, platysma myoides, fascia, and sheath, and in ultimately tying the vessel with a single lig- ature. The haemorrhage.instantly ceased, and no unusual effect was observed in the patient. She lived a fortnight after the operation, and died evidently of the debility induced by the haemorrhage and her previous suffering. The case was fatal, but I felt satisfied the principle of the operation was established. This I believe to be the first instance of ligature of the carotid, and it certainly occurred long pre- vious to any case that is recorded.” According to the state- ment of Mr. Lynn, his operation must have been performed about the year 1792. In Mr. Abernethey’s Surgical Works, vol. 2, published in the year 1S04, the report of a case in which this surgeon ap- plied a ligature to the common carotid, is found. The his- tory of the case is given with much minuteness, and is in- tended to illustrate the treatment of severe injuries of the head. The patient, a man, was gored in the neck by a cow ; the horn entered by the left side of the cricoid carti- lage, and penetrated to the cervical vertebne ; it passed up- ward as high as the base of the skull, and emerged behind the angle of the jaw, injuring severely the parotid gland. The internal carotid artery was torn across, and several arterial branches were severed. The haemorrhage was very profuse, but pressure arrested it. The only resort in the emergency was ligature of the common carotid, and this, Mr. Aber- nethy cautiously performed. The ligature was at first gradu- ally tightened and then relaxed ; as no cerebral symptoms occurred, and the bleeding was arrested by the ligature, it was firmly tied. The patient improved for several hours, but convulsions finally supervened, and death took place thirty hours after the operation. No date is given ot this operation in the relation of the case, but Mr. South (Chelms’ Surgery) supposes it to have been performed about 177S-9.