Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small CalibreMakins, George Henry
History
Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900: Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre
Makins, George Henry
Gunshot wounds; South African War, 1899-1902; Surgery, Military
(13) _Innominate arterio-venous varix_.--Wounded at Modder
River. _Entry_ (Mauser) posterior margin of left
sterno-mastoid, close above the clavicle. _Exit_ in anterior
axillary line one inch below the right anterior axillary fold.
Soon after the injury a considerable amount of blood was
coughed up, and occasional haemoptysis persisted for the next
four days. The patient was moved from the Field hospital by
train to Orange River, a journey of 55 miles and some four
hours' duration, on the fourth day. When examined there was
slight fulness over an area roughly circular and about 2-1/2
inches in extent, of which the sterno-clavicular joint lay just
within the centre. Over this area there was faint pulsation
with a strongly marked thrill and loud systolic bruit. The
radial pulses were even, the right pupil larger than the left.
No pain, and no dyspnoea. The right eye was partially closed,
but could be opened by the levator palpebrae superioris. The
patient was shortly afterwards sent to the Base, and when seen
there twenty-five days after the injury, there was little
change in the condition except that the fulness had
disappeared, the thrill was more marked, and a typical
machinery murmur transmitted along both carotid and subclavian
arteries had developed. There was no headache and the man
himself did not notice the bruit. Evidence of mediastinal
haemorrhage existed in the presence of subcutaneous
discoloration of the abdominal wall, below the ensiform
cartilage and extending slightly over the costal margin of the
thorax. In the absence of an aneurismal swelling, or of the
development of any further symptoms, the patient was sent home
to Netley in January.
I saw this patient in Glasgow a year later. He was employed as a
lamplighter, and was able to do his work well, only complaining of
attacks of shortness of breath on exertion. He said these were apt to
come on each evening about 6 P.M. The pulse was 100 when the erect
position was maintained, and 84 to 88 in the sitting posture. The right
pupil was still dilated, reacting for accommodation but little to light.
The palpebral fissure was normal in size and there was little, if any,
diminution in strength of the right radial pulse.
On inspection no pulsation was visible; in fact, the pulsation of the
normal left subclavian was more apparent in the posterior triangle of
that side. The sterno-mastoid was prominent, also the sternal third of
the clavicle. On firm pressure some pulsation was palpable beneath the
sterno-mastoid, but no definite evidence of the presence of a sac could
be detected. Purring thrill and machinery murmur were still present, but
the former was slight, and palpable only with the lightest pressure. The
machinery murmur had ceased to be audible to himself, and was by no
means loud or very widely distributed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account