Tracheotomy in laryngeal diphtheria (membranous croup) with especial reference to after-treatment .. / by Robert William Parker.

  • Parker, Robert William, -1913.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tracheotomy in laryngeal diphtheria (membranous croup) with especial reference to after-treatment .. / by Robert William Parker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    CHAPTER V. COMPLICATIONS. I SHALL only include such complications as are directly due to tracheotomy. Broncho-pneumonia, therefore, will not be included. I feel that it belongs more to the domain of the physician than of the surgeon, and further I regard it as a complication following on tracheotomy rather than as one due to it. I cannot agree with those who attribute the pneumonia to the operation ; for it seldom ensues on this operation when undertaken for morbid conditions other than diphtheria ; whereas it (pneumonia) is constantly found post mortem in cases of diphtheria, which have not been tracheotomized. The complications which are most commonly met with, may be arranged into two chief classes :— 1. Those which affect the wound or pharynx (extra-tracheal). 2. Those which concern the trachea itself (intra-tracheal). Among the former, we get— Inflammatory oedema of the neck, Diphtheria of the wound, and Pharyngeal obstruction. Among the latter— Difficulties in the final removal of the tube, depending on— 1. Mechanical causes— Adhesions between vocal chords. Growth of granulations. Pressure sores. Cicatricial narrowing. 2. On other (non-mechanical) causes.