Gunshot wounds of the larynx : with the report of a case in which the vocal bands were involved / by William H. Daly.
- Daly, W. H. (William Hudson), 1842-1901.
- Date:
- 1884
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Gunshot wounds of the larynx : with the report of a case in which the vocal bands were involved / by William H. Daly. 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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![in, at no distant day, by tlie learned body of throat surgeons repre- sented by our Association (this assemblage). The eom])ilation of tlie cases of gunshot wounds of the neck involving the larynx and other portions of the air-passages, as well as the upper alimentary tract, found in the “ Medical and Surgical History of the War,” is a piece of work cpiite in keeping with the high character of all the other carefully digested records of work done by the army surgeons of the late war; and it is a pleasure to note among the contributors to this department the name of our esteemed colleague, Dr. S. W. Langmaid. But, for civil surgeons, there should be a collation of cases from private practice covering the entire United States. The missiles producing wounds in other than army life are of smaller caliber, and it is rather difficult to make a comparative deduction from the army records that would be found useful to us as civil surgeons. Of some of the consequences of wounds of the larynx, aphonia is, as a matter of course, the most common ; also exfoliation of car- tilage, persistent fistula, and permanent distortion of the vocal ap- paratus. Six of the ten cases detailed in the war record referred to were followed by chronic cough and complete loss of voice, and similar results are described as occurring among those so wounded orr the Confederate side. Of the general report of 4,895 cases of gunshot wound of the neck in the late war, there was a death-rate of fifteen per centum. But it must be understood that the figures were taken from the casualty lists and regimental field reports as well as returns from base or general hospitals, and thus the excessive mortality is ex- plained, and many cases are included of grave injuries that never came under treatment; and few indeed that probably came under the treatment that the more modern surgery of the throat would afford, since the advances in this department have been greater subsequent than previous to or during the war. On reference to some of our text-books we find but meager information on the subject. “ The danger of such lesions pene- trating the larynx,” says Gross, “ will be particularly great if, as sometimes happens, the opening extends to the vocal cords, as oedema](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22458840_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
