Report of the surgical operations performed at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Infirmary during a period of seventeen years and a half. Pt. 1, On amputations of the limbs / by Samuel Fenwick.

  • Samuel Fenwick
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the surgical operations performed at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Infirmary during a period of seventeen years and a half. Pt. 1, On amputations of the limbs / by Samuel Fenwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    | two months we before remarked as so unhealthy, viz. in May and I! June. Of the cases of amputation above 20 years of age, with ] respect to the upper extremity 2 deaths took place after the fourth day, and of these 1 had the arm removed in June and the other in December. In the amputations of the lower extremity, in those ■ above 20 years of age, May and June seem to have been, as usual, exceedingly fatal; but the other quarters of the year do not present I the same amount of success we found them to exhibit in the former I Tables. Thus, if we divide the numbers contained in this class of amputations according to the quarters of the year in which they were performed, wTe shall find that 1 case in every 3*5 died after the fourth day in the first three months, 1 in 2*33 in the second, 1 in 2*25 1 in the third, and 1 in 2*33 in the fourth quarter. From this, then, we may conclude, that although the amputations I performed in the second quarter of the year, viz. in April, May, and June, are most likely to prove unsuccessful in traumatic ampu¬ tations ; yet in the case of the lower extremity, in those above 20 1 years of age, the increase in mortality will be very little above that I of the other periods of the year. It will be observed, on comparing Table XLV. with the two Tables preceding it, that although the spring is by far the most fatal to all amputations; yet, that the pathological amputations performed in the earlier months of that period are more unsuccessful than those performed in June, whilst the contrary is remarked in those requiring the operation on account of accidents. I have also classified the amputations performed at the Newcastle I Infirmary according to the trades of the patients, but have not published the results for the following reasons. 1st, From the occupations of the patients not being noted either in the general registers of the hospital, nor in the books of the surgeons, I have had no means of verifying the correctness of, or I detecting the errors in, the account of the operation books; and 2<lly, as, in many instances, the occupation is only stated in gene- I ral terms, such as mechanic or labourer, the want of exactness I appeared to me to deprive the results of much of the interest which I would otherwise have been connected with them.