The Surgery of the Skull and BrainRawling, Louis Bathe
Science
The Surgery of the Skull and Brain
Rawling, Louis Bathe
Brain -- Surgery; Skull -- Surgery
=After-treatment.= Whether the operation be carried out by craniectomy
or craniotomy, the patient is put back to bed in the so-called head-down
position, the lower end of the bed being raised at least a foot above
the level of the head. In the event of shock, a hypodermic injection of
a ¹⁄₄ gr. of morphia should be given, the lower extremities may be
bandaged firmly from below upwards, and saline infusions administered,
preferably per rectum.
CHAPTER III
CEPHALOCELES. BIRTH-HÆMORRHAGES. BIRTH-FRACTURES. DERMOIDS.
HYDROCEPHALUS
CEPHALOCELES
The term ‘Cephalocele’ has been applied to all those tumours which
project through a gap or deficiency in the bones of the vault and base
of the skull. The tumour may be congenital or traumatic in origin: the
membranes of the brain may alone protrude (meningocele), or the tumour
may be composed of normal or altered brain-substance: all the varying
conditions, however, are included under one term--=cephalocele=.
Congenital and traumatic cephaloceles differ, however, so markedly from
one another, both with regard to their pathology and treatment, that
they must be considered separately.
=Congenital cephaloceles.= Billroth and the late Professor von Bergmann
were the first to narrate cases in which this deformity was present,
Lyssenkow[4] added much to the previous records, and de Quèrvain,[5] by
prolonged researches, drew further attention to the subject.
Lyssenkow divided the congenital variety into two main
groups--exencephaly and cephalocele--the former resulting from a general
error in development (the ‘Acrania’ of Muscatelle), the latter a partial
or local developmental failure. In =exencephaly= there is an extensive
gap in the vault of the skull, the remainder of the skull being
microcephalic in nature, the brain projecting outwards in a varying
degree, and the ventricular spaces distended with fluid. In
=cephaloceles= the hole in the skull is usually circumscribed, although
the sutures may be widely separated and the ventricles distended with
fluid, yet both skull and brain may be normally developed in all other
respects.
=Exencephaly= presents but few points of surgical interest, insomuch as
the condition is barely compatible with life.
=Cephaloceles= occupy a very different position. The condition is by no
means confined to man, and many instances are recorded as occurring
throughout the animal kingdom. Norsa Gurrieri,[6] for instance, records
a case occurring in the embryo of Mus decumanus vel albinus. The same
writer insists that the developmental error involves bones of either
cartilaginous or membranous origin, and that the atrophic condition of
the bone is the primary cause and the ectopia of the brain a secondary
result.
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