On a new method of managing fractures : from the address in surgery, delivered at the Twentieth Anniversary Meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Oxford, on Wednesday and Thursday, July 21st and 22nd, 1852 / by James Torry Hester, fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, surgeon to the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.

  • Hester, James Torry
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a new method of managing fractures : from the address in surgery, delivered at the Twentieth Anniversary Meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Oxford, on Wednesday and Thursday, July 21st and 22nd, 1852 / by James Torry Hester, fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, surgeon to the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to be considerably in front of the lower, which was again felt between the outer and inner flexors of the knee. At the end of six weeks, the man was allowed to sit up, and although he did not use the limb, the union, which had apparently taken place satis¬ factorily, gave way, and he was compelled to undergo another period of confinement to bed. At the end of two months more, the bone was found to be firmly united, but with the same awkward riding, and he had but little motion in the knee. He shortly afterwards left the infirmary, and w^ent to a considerable distance, so that I am not likely to hear anything further respecting him. Mr. Pott was led to consider that the best position for effecting a good cure wTas to place the patient on the injured side, the thigh being flexed on the body, and the leg on the thigh, thus affording the greatest degree of relaxation to the muscles. And this would perhaps be as good a mode of treatment as any other, could we ensure our patients constantly remaining in a proper position; but, unfortunately, when so placed, they have a constant disposition to turn towards, if not to lie quite on the back, thus giving a very uncomfortable twist to the limb. I give a drawing of a fracture which occurred in an old lady suffering under cancer. She was treated by a surgeon of con¬ siderable eminence, and when I first saw her, ten weeks after the accident, her position was just what I have described,—the limb was on its side, the patient on her back. I need hardly say that she never afterwards walked upon it. She died about six months after the accident. I exhibit a front and back drawing of the bone, to show how beautifully Nature worked under the most unfavourable circum¬ stances which could be imagined. The bone was cancellated and brittle, and yet bridges of new bone were thrown out from the sides, effecting a most perfect union. I regret that I did not remove the whole of the bone. (A Fig. I) denotes the situation of the linea alba, showing how the limb was twisted, as well as shortened. Another position found favour with many surgeons—namely, placing the patient on his back, the knee being raised and supported with pillows, and as these were found to be constantly giving way, various means were adopted, by frames, &c., to keep the knee properly elevated, but on the whole this plan was found to be