Peripheral nerve transplantation : with the report of a case in which the sciatics of a dog were transplanted successfully between the severed ends of the median and ulnar nerves of a man / by Reuben Peterson.

  • Peterson, Reuben, 1862-1942.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Peripheral nerve transplantation : with the report of a case in which the sciatics of a dog were transplanted successfully between the severed ends of the median and ulnar nerves of a man / by Reuben Peterson. 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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    growth very strongly, and may be interpreted as showing that some of the budding axis-cylinder processes of the central end had developed far enough toward the peripheral median to be able to grow through the connective tissue forming between the central and peripheral por- tion of the divided median, and thus reach the peripheral median. How far down in the peripheral median such fibres had grown at the time of the operation can only be conjectured. Ulnar. The study of the .segment removed from the ulnar loses in interest owing to the fact that the central end of the peripheral ulnar was lost at the time of the operation. As has been previously stated, the peripheral end of the central ulnar segment was, at the time of the operation, found united to one of the forearm tendons, to which it seems to have been sutured at the time of the injury. Tiie segment of the ulnar sent me for examination consisted, therefore, of the peripheral portion of the central ulnar stump, firmly united by fibrous tissue to a short segment of tendon. Cross-sections of the central end of the ulnar segment {a, of Fig. 10) presented appearances very similar to that de- scribed for the central median segment and shown in Fig. 11, and need, therefore, no further description. Cross-section of the peripheral por- tion of the segment removed from tlie ulnar (e, of Fig. 10) shows, for reasous above given, the structure of the tendon. Longitudinal sec- tions of the ulnar segment (along the line shown in Fig. 10) show the ulnar ending in a large nerve-bulb, which was intimately united to the tendon by means of fibrous tissue. In none of these sections was I able to trace any newly formed nerve-fibres beyond the nerve-bulb, the dense structure of the tendon to which the ulnar was probably sutured at the time of the injury preventing the downgrowth of the axis-cylin- ders from the central ulnar stump. Microscopical Examination of Amputated Fingers {hy Dr. G. Carl Huber). The tips of the two fingers, the third phalanx of the first finger, and the second and third phalanges of the third finger were sent me in alco- hol. Pieces from various places in the amputated fingers were embedded in paraffin, sectioned, and the sections fixed to cover-glasses and stained in haematoxylin and eosin-heematoxylin and Van Gieseu’s picric acid, acid fuchsin solution, hiematoxylin, and orange G. Attempt vvas also made to stain them after Weigert’s hsematoxylin method and some of the methods for differentiating the axis-cylinders in the nerve-fibres; but, owing to the fact that the tissues were hardened in alcohol and not in a chrome salt, these latter methods did not prove satisfactory. In sections prepared after the above methods it may be seen that the tissues other than the nerve-fibres and end-organs to be mentioned, pre- sent, as far as may be determined, a normal structure. Epidermis and sweat-glands arc all normal, as is also the dermis. Yellow elastic tissue, as shown by the orcein method, is normal in amount and distribution. The great majority of the vessels present no deviation from the normal structure, with the exception of one of the digital arteries found in the volar side of the third finger. This vessel, as seen in cross-section, jire- sents on one side a very much thickened subendothelial coat. The nerve-trunks, both palmar and dorsal, as also the smaller branches here and there met with, present at first sight the appearance of com- {iletely degenerated nerves. The ejnneurial tissue is thicker and denser than in a normal nerve of the 'ame size. The same is true of the peri- ueurium surrounding the several funiculi. The structure of the nerve-
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