A new method of direct fixation of the fragments in compound and ununited fractures / by Nicholas Senn.

  • Nicholas Senn
Date:
[1893]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new method of direct fixation of the fragments in compound and ununited fractures / by Nicholas Senn. 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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    (4) The club-shaped closed ends of new bloodvessels can be easily mistaken for giant cells when the places of their connec- tions with vessels are obscured by the tissues. These experiments and observations prove that bone or ivory used in the direct fixation of a fracture can be safely left in the tissues with the expectation that the material will become encysted and remain harmless, and that in the course of time it will be removed by absorption. They also teach that these substances are more rapidly removed by absorption when inserted into the medullary cavity, or when placed around instead of into the bone. My own experience has satisfied me that bone is absorbed more readily and in a shorter time than ivory, and on this account I prefer it to the latter material in the direct treat- ment of fractures. I am convinced that a hollow cylinder of bone inserted into the medullary cavity of a bone is removed completely by absorption in a comparatively short time. The same fate awaits a thin ring of bone embracing and holding in mutual uninterrupted contact two or more fragments in the treatment of compound and ununited fractures by direct fix- ation. Retention of Compound and Ununited Fractures by Direct Fixation with Bone Ferrule. The most efficient way to prevent lateral and longitudinal displacement in oblique fractures of the shaft of the long bones is to bring the fractured surfaces in accurate contact, and hold them in this position by an efficient absorbable circular support. The use of silver wire and other unabsorb- able suture material for this purpose is objectionable, because the linear pressure caused by the support must affect in a detrimental manner the fragments, and the circular splint, even if it becomes encysted, remains as a foreign substance liable at any time to become a source of disturbance. Catgut and other absorbable ligatures are not sufficiently durable to hold the parts in contact for a sufficient length of time. It has occurred to me that such fractures could be retained almost to perfection after
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