A new method of direct fixation of the fragments in compound and ununited fractures / by Nicholas Senn.

  • Senn, Nicholas, 1844-1908.
Date:
[1893]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new method of direct fixation of the fragments in compound and ununited fractures / by Nicholas Senn. 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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    right leg was shaved and disinfected. An incision was made down upon the femur at its middle through the inter- muscular septum on the outer side of the bone. The bone was divided transversely with a chisel. A round bone ferrule about three-fourths of an inch wide and with a lumen a little larger than the shaft of the bone was applied in such a manner that it grasped both fragments equally. The wound was closed through- out by buried and superficial sutures, and sealed with an iodo- form collodion dressing. The entire limb was encased in a plaster-of-Paris splint. Wire gauze was applied over the splint. The animal did not seem to suffer much from the injury; com- menced to eat and walk the second day after the operation. In three weeks the splint was so much injured by the animal that it was removed. Wound healed throughout. Limb in good position, very little if any mobility at the seat of fracture. The place of fracture could be felt as a firm spindle-shaped swelling. The dog commenced to use the leg, and about a week later it would have been difficult to tell from his walking and running that the thigh had been fractured. As nothing has been seen or heard of the bone ring so far, it is safe to assume that it has become absorbed. The second experiment was made on a much smaller dog. Through the same incision the radius and ulna were divided obliquely with a chisel, the fracture of the radius being near the elbow joint, that of the ulna about an inch lower down. The fracture of the ulna was treated by direct fixation in the same manner as in the preceding experiment, only that the ring was much narrower. The limb was immobilized in the same manner. At the end of a week it was ascertained that the wound was suppurating, and the sutures were removed. Two weeks later the splint was removed. Some motion at the seat of fracture. An abundant provisional callus rendered the further use of a splint unnecessary. During the fourth week the dog ran away, and has not been heard from since. I have no doubt that both fractures united in a satisfactory manner, but the bone ring will be eliminated sooner or later.