Elkoplasty, or, Anaplasty applied to the treatment of old ulcers : also, A new mode of treatment for delayed or non-union of a fractured humerus / by Frank H. Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Frank Hastings, 1813-1886.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elkoplasty, or, Anaplasty applied to the treatment of old ulcers : also, A new mode of treatment for delayed or non-union of a fractured humerus / by Frank H. Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ■ ed union, and declared to them that I did not intend to attempt to re lion until 1 bad straighten-1 the arm. They had just witnessed the failure of a precisely similar case in which 1 had mad attempt without straightening the arm and without success. Feb. 6, 1854. I had succeeded in making the arm nearly straight. 1 now punctured the upper end of the lower fragment with a small steel in- strument, and as well as I was able, thrust it between the fragments. Assisted by Dr. Boardman, I then applied a gutta percha splint from the top of the shoulder to the fingers, moulding it carefully to the whole of the back and sides of the limb, and securing it firmly with a paste roller. March 4th. (Not quite four weeks after the application of the splint,) I opened the dressings for the second time, and carefully renewed them. A slight motion was yet perceptible between the fragments. March 18th. I opened the dressings for the third time, and found the union complete. This was within less than forty days. The patient was now dismissed. On the 29th of April following the bone was refractured. Mahar had been assisting to load the tender to a locomotive. While the train was just getting in motion he was hanging to the lender by his sound arm when another laborer seized upon his broken inn to keep himself upon the car, and with a violent and sudden pull wrenched him from the tender and reproduced the fracture. The next morning I applied the dressings as before, and did not remove it dining three weeks, at the end of this time the union was again complete. The splint was, however, reapplied and has beeu continued to this time— a period of about six weeks.