Contributions to practical surgery / by William Stokes, jun.
- Stokes, Sir William, 1839-1900.
- Date:
- 1868
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Contributions to practical surgery / by William Stokes, jun. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![it is unnecessary to dwell, for no mechanical difficulty should ever deter the surgeon from performing an operation that may be of ultimate advantage to the patient; and with regard to the second, although it cannot be denied the cases are very rare in which carious disease of the ankle-joint is sufficiently localized to justify resection, yet, should the disease be found too extensive to indicate this procedure, there is then nothing to deter the surgeon from amputating at the ankle-joint after the manner recommended by Professor Syme or Pirogoffi Owing to the recent researches, practical as well as theoretical, of Professors Langenbeck and Hancock on the great surgical import- ance of resection of the ankle-joint in cases as well of injury as of disease of that ai'ticulation, the subject naturally is regarded by the surgiwvl profession as one worthy of deep care and consideration. I have little doubt, therefore, that the ])articulars of the case in Avhich the operation was i)erformed by me, for the first time in Ireland, and which I am about briefly to record, will, in no small degi-ee, be of interest to my professional brethren. Before, however, discussing this case, it may not be considered unimportant or devoid of interest to glance briefly at some of the particulars of the earlier cases in which this operation was performed. In a {)aper by Professor I/angenbeck, which he kindly sent me, on some cases in which he performed resection of the ankle-joint for gun-shot injuries received during the Schleswig-Holstein campaign of 1864, and also by the late Professor Velpeau [Med. Operat. 2 T. ]). 739], it is stated that the first case in which resection of the ankle-joint was performed Avas at the battle of Fontenoy, in 1745, by a surgeon named Read. The case, hoAvever, although of extreme surgical interest, should, I think, hardly be recorded as an example of the resection of the ankle-joint in the ordinary acceptation of the term. The folloAving are some of the leading particulars of this remarkable case:—“Charles Amiens, a soldier belonging to the company of Gurcrduc in the Beauvoisis Regiment, Avas struck, in the battle of Fontenoy, by a cannon ball, Avdiich carried off the loAver extremity of the fibula. The inferior extremity of the tibia Avas fractui’ed in several pieces, the injury also involving the astragalus, the ligaments, and other structures of the ankle-joint. The foot Avas completely displaced backAvards and inAvards. M. Read’s first idea Avas to amputate immediately, but OAving to the entreaties of the patient not to do so, and there being no immediate danger, the operation Avas deferred. Several fragments of the bone Avere then](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22329985_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
