CHEMOTHERAPY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF WOUNDS
- CHAMP LYONS, M.D.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
It is important to emphasize the limited role of chemotherapy in the management of wounds.1 The basic tenet of the current philosophy in this regard is sound surgical care.2 Blood transfusion and chemotherapy are important features of a supportive program designed to expedite the surgical treatment of the wounded. Of all the measures devised to prevent infection, only active immunization with tetanus toxoid may be said to have achieved its purpose completely. The only other prophylactic procedure of comparable value is initial surgical management of the wound. The greatest usefulness of antibacterial drugs has been in the therapy of impending or established infection complicating the surgical management of the wound.
One of the more important recent advances in the management of wounds is a renewed appreciation of the clinical distinction between invasive infection and localized suppuration of the wound.3 With the help of the bacteriologist it has
Footnotes
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Read in the symposium on "Wound Management" before the Section on Surgery, General and Abdominal, at the Ninety-Fifth Annual Session of the American Medical Association, San Francisco, July 5, 1946.
