A manual of minor surgery and bandaging for the use of house surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners.

  • Christopher Heath
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of minor surgery and bandaging for the use of house surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    51 l''OIU:i(iN UODIKS. careful attempts should be made to ascertain the po- sition of the obstruction; and if, as may be expected, it is discovered lixed between the vocal cords, efforts may be made to displace it by inverting the child and slapping its back pretty sharply, or by gently intro- ducing a probe from below. When the foreign body has passed into the trachea, inversion of th3 ])atient, &c., may be tried, provided lari/ngulomy Jim hcen fcr- formed; for if this has not been done, the body may get impacted between the vocal coi-ds and necessitate an instant operation. In those cases which are brought to the hospital for vai'ions degrees of dyspnoea, the result of a foreign body in the trachea or bronchi, the house-surgeon is not justilied in interfering unless there is great urgency, but should summon the assist- ance of his senior officers, since tliese cases require often the most dexterous treatment, and throw a heavy responsibility on the operator. Foreign hodi/ in oesopliar/tis.—Large masses of solid food occasionally get fixed in the a'sopliagus ; but most commonly tlio foreign body is a bone (generally a fish-bone), or in rare instances a set of artilicial teeth. If the foreign body is one which can be readily di- gested, or at least will ]mss through tlie intestinal canal Avithout diiliculty, the best treatment is to push it down into the stomach with a bougie or stomach- pump tube. When, however, a fish-bone is fixed in the mucous membrane, as can generally be ascertained by the pricking sensation experienced by the patient, an attempt should be made to dislodge it. A long forefinger, thrust well down the throat, may be made to hook up such an obstacle with the nail, siipposing it is still in the pharynx ; but if lower down, one of the numerous forms of probang must be used for the pur- pose, or recourse may be had to long curved forceps, which require, however, very careful manipulation. The removal of artificial teeth from the oesophagus is an operation of great nicety, and one which the houses