AMPUTATIONS IN WAR
- NORMAN T. KIRK, M.D.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
Experiences in World War I demanded an order that no wound should be closed by primary suture. Even with the advent of the sulfonamide derivatives it is not believed that primary suture is safe in extremity surgery under war conditions. This was further proved by reports of infection which followed débridement, the application of sulfanilamide and primary closure of wounds at Pearl Harbor and by reports in the Lancet from experiences on the Libyan front. All wounds closed by primary suture or tightly packed were found grossly infected when the patients arrived at the base in Egypt.
Methods of amputation might be classified as follows:
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The guillotine or open method: circular or flapless type; flap type.
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The closed type of amputation (amputations at site of election where flaps are fashioned and closed by primary suture).
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Repair of the guillotine stump: (a) Plastic closure. (b) Plastic resection. (c)
Footnotes
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Read before the Section on Orthopedic Surgery at the Ninety-Third Annual Session of the American Medical Association, Atlantic City, N. J., June 11, 1942.
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Released for publication by the War Department Manuscript Board, which assumes no responsibility, other than censorship, for the contents of this article.
