A guide to the aseptic treatment of wounds / by Dr. C. Schimmelbusch. Preface by Prof. E. von Bergmann. Tr. from the 2nd rev. German ed. with express permission of the author / by Frank J. Thornbury.

  • Curt Schimmelbusch
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A guide to the aseptic treatment of wounds / by Dr. C. Schimmelbusch. Preface by Prof. E. von Bergmann. Tr. from the 2nd rev. German ed. with express permission of the author / by Frank J. Thornbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    made frct/v. This is an inijxjrtant general rule, as only in widely-gaping, open wounds is exact control of hemorrhage possible. The conservatism to be observed in individual cases, just how bleeding is to be controlled and wounds drained, the surgeon can only learn by experience, and does not come within the scope of this treatise. The closure of the wound has been regarded as most important from an anti- septic standpoint, and this with propriety, as the closed wound is safer against infection than one which is not. As the heal- ing progresses from day to day, the danger of infection gradu- ally decreases. This closure, however, can only act favorably when there are no foreign substances intervening. Nothing is more disastrous than the suturing of awounci when pathogenic organisms are imbedded in its depth in blood and transuda- tion. Here the closure is antagonistic to repair and conduces to infection. Where the entrance of infectious germs cannot be avoided and ])erfect control of hemorrhage is impossible, or where previously infected tissues have been the seat of op- eration, the wound cannot be closed, and must be covered simply with gauze or packed—tamponed. Here it is difficult to inaugurate fixed rules applicable in all cases. Only in a general way will the fundamental principles of tamponing be alluded to. In the von Bergmann Clinic three methods of tamponing are employed : 1. The temporary tampon. 2. The permanent tampon. 3. The continued tampon. As a rule the only article used for tamponing is iodoform gauze. In employment of the temporary tampon the wound is packed throughout its entire extent with this material, which is allowed to remain for forty-eight hours. It is then removed, and if the wound is in a proper condition it is treated as recent,