War wounds of the lung : notes on their surgical treatment at the front / by Pierre Duval ; authorized English translation.

  • Pierre Duval
Date:
1918
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: War wounds of the lung : notes on their surgical treatment at the front / by Pierre Duval ; authorized English translation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/136 (page 11)
    Fracture of the bony wall of the thorax occurs frequently, and splinters of bone are almost always driven in. In the course of twenty-one operations we have five times extracted bone splinters from the lung or pleura. These splinters are a source of great danger, either primarily or secondarily. They are violently driven into the lung and cause extra injury by crushing, bruising, and necrosis of the Fig. 3.—Diagram of radiograph. (Pro].) Shell fragment fracturing rib. (Esq. ) Indriven splinters of bone. (I.h.) Extensive haemor¬ rhagic infiltration. lung, in addition to the damage done by the projectile. They penetrate a considerable distance, and we have found them up to a depth of 5 cm. in the lung substance. They cause a torn and jagged wound, and the zone of dead tissue is very extensive. Injury to vessels often gives rise to grave pulmonary haemorrhage. Later, the bone splinters nearly always cause suppuration ; the deeper the splinters penetrate, the more serious the pleuro-pulmonary infection.