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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    A NEW METHOD OF DIRECT FIXATION OF THE FRAGMENTS IN COMPOUND AND UNUNITED FRACTURES.1 By NICHOLAS SENN, M.D., Ph.D., LL.D., OF CHICAGO. PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE OF SURGERY AND OF CLINICAL SURGERY IN RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE; PROFESSOR OF SURGERY IN CHICAGO POLYCLINIC; ATTENDING SURGEON PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL ; SURGEON IN CHARGE ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL. THE treatment of compound and ununited fractures has always been a fruitful field of research and observation for the sur- geon. Notwithstanding that this subject has been the special study of many able surgeons, it has not reached the stage of perfection its importance demands. It is true that the adop- tion of rigid antiseptic precautions in the treatment of compound fractures has reduced the mortality from 50 to 70 per cent, almost to ml, and the same has rendered operations for ununited frac- tures nearly devoid of danger. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the mechanical treatment of both these classes of fractures has undergone but little improvement during the last decade, which has witnessed such marvelous improvements in other departments of surgery. No systematic attempts have been made to utilize the wound in compound fractures for the purpose of securing accurate reduction and perfect retention, hor many years the operative treatment of ununited fractures has undergone no material change. The principal object of this address is to make an earnest plea in favor of a more frequent recourse to direct means of fixation in the treatment of compound and ununited fractures. It appears to me that the time is at hand when a compound fracture should be treated upon the same prin- 1 President’s Address, delivered at the meeting of the American Surgical Asso ciation, May 30, 1893.