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
When the aneurism has reached a quiescent stage the question of further
treatment arises, and whether this should consist in local interference
or proximal ligature. The answer to this mainly depends on the size and
situation of the vessels concerned. To take of the cases above described
the five instances in which the cervical vessels were the seat of the
aneurism. In No. 13 the symptoms appeared fairly conclusive of the
injury being to the innominate artery and vein, or possibly innominate
artery and jugular vein. Fortunately the aneurismal sac in this case was
small and showed a tendency to decrease, but in any case no interference
would have been justifiable. I think a similar opinion was unavoidable
in No. 14, probably affecting the root of the right carotid. Here under
any circumstances interference would have been most hazardous. The
position of large aneurism made the route of approach to the wounded
spot necessarily through the sac, exposing the patient to the double
danger of immediate haemorrhage and of entrance of air into the great
veins. Nos. 10, 11, and 12 fall into the same category, except that in
No. 11 the immediate indication for interference was extension. In each,
ligature of the artery above and below the point of communication would
have necessitated so near an approach to the sac which must remain in
communication with the vein as to have entailed injury to the latter,
when both artery and vein must have been ligatured, probably risking
serious cerebral trouble. In No. 11 I believe both the external and
internal carotids were implicated; in No. 10 I believe the internal
alone, close to its origin. The operation of proximal ligature ensured
primary consolidation of the sac in both cases 10 and 11, but left the
thrill unaltered, except in so far as it was temporarily weakened. It,
in fact, converted these cases from arterio-venous aneurisms into pure
aneurismal varices. In No. 10 a sac subsequently redeveloped. No. 12
stood on a different basis. No operation was done for him in South
Africa, but the first portion of the carotid might have been ligatured
in the episternal notch, or by aid of removal of a part of the sternum,
and a second ligature placed above the sac. Here a ligature above and
below the communication would have been comparatively easy.
As a general rule proximal ligature is to be reserved for those cases
alone in which double ligature is either impracticable or inadvisable,
and it can only be expected to convert a varicose aneurism into the less
dangerous condition of aneurismal varix.
In the case of arterio-venous aneurisms in the limbs the possibilities
of treatment are enlarged, and here the alternatives of (_a_) local
interference with the sac and direct ligature of the wounded point,
(_b_) simple ligature above and below the sac, (_c_) proximal ligature
(Hunterian operation), come into consideration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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 — John Shaqi
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