The closure of laparotomy wounds as practised in Germany and Austria : including detailed methods and views communicated by over fifty leading surgeons / ed. and tr. by Walter H. Swaffield.
- Date:
- 1904
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The closure of laparotomy wounds as practised in Germany and Austria : including detailed methods and views communicated by over fifty leading surgeons / ed. and tr. by Walter H. Swaffield. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
13/82 page 7
![Frof. Freuitd, Berlin (former]// of Sfrasshurg), I can reply to your letter in very fe^ words. I liave never employed any other suture for the abdomen than the simple through-and-through one. Immediately after opening the abdomen (the peritoneal incision not being carried so far downwards as the superficial one) I suture peri- toneum to skin in order to avoid deeper detach- ment of same. At the end of the operation this is freed, and the peritoneum united with catgut to the fascia in the lower angle of the wound, and the same in the upper angle; this attachment is carried out with only one suture-thread (Xaht- schlinge). The whole of the rest of the wound is closed with strong silver-wire sutures, going- through the Avhole thickness of the wall ohliqueh/, i. e. taking up much peritoneum and very little of the outer integuments. Between the wires super- ficial silk sutures are added to allow of better adaptation of skin edges. After ten days these silk stitches are removed, and after the twelfth day the wire sutures. Both the course of primary healing and the later con- dition of my patients has been so satisfactory that I have not felt called upon to alter my method. Since lea^ang the Strassburg Klinik for Berlin, nearly three years ago, I have retired from opera- tive practice, and am unable to supply you with anv statistics.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21167448_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
