On contractions of the fingers (Dupuytren's and congenital contractions) and on "hammer-toe" / by William Adams.

  • William Adams
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On contractions of the fingers (Dupuytren's and congenital contractions) and on "hammer-toe" / by William Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    96/222 page 42
    in 1876, only one, ]>[o. 3, that of a lawyer, get. 44, who suffered from contraction of the fingers in both hands, seems to have been of DupuytrcD's contrac- tion, the others depending on abscesses and tranmatic inflammation. During my visit to America in 1876, when. I went as the representative of the Medical Society of London, to attend the International Medical Congress in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity of discussicg this subject with Professor Post. He seemed to be strongly of opinion that it was impossible to divide the contracted cord in the palm of the hand by sub- cutaneous incisions, as adhesion to the skin prevented the knife being passed between the skin and the cord. I explained, however, that the close adhesion between the skin and the cord—even in very severe cases— never extends through the entire length of the cord, and that by flexing the hand at the time of operation, it was possible to introduce the small fascia knife under the skin, and pass it between the skin and the cord, generally at the two extremities of the latter, where the skin was not adherent to the cord. This allows of an immediate gain by extension; and that portion of the cord at which close adhesions of the skin exist being thus isolated and freed from tension, undergoes a gradual process of atrophy and absorp- tion, just as all the knotty cutaneous thickenings do, after the subcutaneous division of the fascial bands. Sir William Fergusson''s Operation.—The late Sir W. Fergusson alludes to the operation by open-wound as likely to obviate the disposition to re-contraction,
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3